The History of 'The Championship Banner'
Sept 1, 2021 13:23:08 GMT -5
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Post by The Sandman on Sept 1, 2021 13:23:08 GMT -5
(originally posted on ManMMA Era 1, under the title "Evolution #1: The Championship Banner", migrated here for posterity)
The idea of having a championship banner came to me when I attended a live Bellator event. At these, Bellator hangs banners of their champions in the arena.
I felt like it added some prestige to the belts, and wanted the same for ManMMA, and went straight to work.
Early incarnations looked like shit, and were never published on ManMMA:
(circa ManMMA 87)
Then, finally, after some tinkering, I found a design I was happy with, and we had this, the most basic banner, for our basic weight classes:
(circa ManMMA 100)
Then, we added the SuperFight title, and split the women's weightclass in two:
(circa ManMMA 296)
During Season 17, we ran a "ManNXT" minor league system, concurrent with our regular season (simmed by Rattlesnakes). The ManNXT fighters would be eligible for draft in the upcoming ManMMA draft. During the season, we had this banner:
(ManMMA 337)
Then, as the ManNXT season completed, and a male and female champion were crowned, we had this:
(ManMMA 340)
Because of time constraints, disputes over how ManNXT should be operated, etc., ManNXT did not carry forward into subsequent seasons, and was removed from the banner as a result. We were back to this relatively straightforward design:
(ManMMA 371)
Over time, we split the men one more time, creating a lighter weightclass, and merging LW and WW into Welterweight:
(circa ManMMA 458)
Then, I thought about how cool it would be to have the Grand Prix winning team honoured all season long. So I got to work on a new design...
(ManMMA 459)
...And promptly forgot to add the Grand Prix winning team part to the new design.
So back to work. Eventually, after a few different font changes, we came to the design we have now:
(ManMMA 460)
And thus concludes Evolution #1: The Championship Banner.
Stay Tuned for "Evolution #2: The Event Banners". It will be a good one!
The idea of having a championship banner came to me when I attended a live Bellator event. At these, Bellator hangs banners of their champions in the arena.
I felt like it added some prestige to the belts, and wanted the same for ManMMA, and went straight to work.
Early incarnations looked like shit, and were never published on ManMMA:
(circa ManMMA 87)
Then, finally, after some tinkering, I found a design I was happy with, and we had this, the most basic banner, for our basic weight classes:
(circa ManMMA 100)
Then, we added the SuperFight title, and split the women's weightclass in two:
(circa ManMMA 296)
During Season 17, we ran a "ManNXT" minor league system, concurrent with our regular season (simmed by Rattlesnakes). The ManNXT fighters would be eligible for draft in the upcoming ManMMA draft. During the season, we had this banner:
(ManMMA 337)
Then, as the ManNXT season completed, and a male and female champion were crowned, we had this:
(ManMMA 340)
Because of time constraints, disputes over how ManNXT should be operated, etc., ManNXT did not carry forward into subsequent seasons, and was removed from the banner as a result. We were back to this relatively straightforward design:
(ManMMA 371)
Over time, we split the men one more time, creating a lighter weightclass, and merging LW and WW into Welterweight:
(circa ManMMA 458)
Then, I thought about how cool it would be to have the Grand Prix winning team honoured all season long. So I got to work on a new design...
(ManMMA 459)
...And promptly forgot to add the Grand Prix winning team part to the new design.
So back to work. Eventually, after a few different font changes, we came to the design we have now:
(ManMMA 460)
And thus concludes Evolution #1: The Championship Banner.
Stay Tuned for "Evolution #2: The Event Banners". It will be a good one!
