In our Safest Bets for Gen 3 article, Machamp was considered a risky investment. Facing competition with 3 new Fighting-type Pokemon, all with various stat and type advantages over Machamp, it’s surprising that he came out ahead. To solidify Machamp’s dominion even further, all 3 got their most optimal Fighting-type movesets! It truly is a testament to Machamp’s raw power that despite all odds, he still managed to come out on top.

While Machamp remains the undisputed Fighting-type champion, Hariyama does weigh in on some of Machamp's matchups with its higher bulk. Similar to Gyarados vs. Vaporeon, while Machamp will get jobs done faster than Hariyama, there may be times that Hariyama will survive more hits than Machamp would, allowing it to fire off more Dynamic Punch before fainting. This advantage is present enough where Hariyama makes an excellent complement to or substitute for Machamp in any raid or gym battle where Machamp is called for.

As for Blaziken and Breloom, even with their sub-typing’s resistances at work, both currently fail to match up to Machamp. Both are much more frail and offer insufficient advantage to compensate. Even with the addition of Focus Blast to Blaziken’s repertoire, its performance can’t reach The Champ *. Unfortunately for these two, they face even tougher competition on the Fire and Grass-type side of the meta. Being edged out of relevancy by more powerful options is an unfortunate reality most Pokemon face. Even with good stats and the best movesets, outside of a rebalance or the addition of abilities, these two may not see much play in GO given the availability of Machamp through raids.

That said, Blaziken and Breloom are still both excellent Fighting-type Pokemon, with both edging out the former Fighting-type runner-up Heracross, who itself remains a relevant attacker.