Dana White: "I'm interested in doing Anthony Johnson vs. Jon Jones for the interim title."

[Neitzsche]

I thought this was strange....Dana wanting to do a fight with AJ and Jones for an interim title? This is by far the most bizarre situation for an interim belt outside of Conor. Interim belts are given like candy, as if they couldn't be any more watered down.


Link here

 

[bjpenngoat]

interim title? where is the dispute as to whos the champion at this point. DC is the champ.

 

[charalsias]

Next Gustaffson vs Manuwa rematch for international title,weidman vs Jacare for junior lhw title etc etc...

Dana must have been smoking dollar bills since the deal!

 

[analogfuzz]

interim title? where is the dispute as to whos the champion at this point. DC is the champ.

if only Carlton had earned it.

 

[UL]

I like it because otherwise we may never see Jones vs Rumble.

 

[Threetrees]

This is why Dana is not Joe Silva.

He's terrible at making fights. Good at selling them, but terrible at making them.
You guys think he says "We don't make fights the right after the card is done" because he's going to go home and think about it? No. He doesn't answer those questions because its not his job to match make, for good reason.
The only narrative that creates is if Jones win he gets to have a champion vs champion fight against DC
For DC and Rumble, this scenario is no improvement over the other - where Jones fights or waits and DC and Rumble fight each other.

This screams to me that Dana wants Rumble to be his hit man and take out Jon Jones and kill that story. But that's dumb.

 

[Roca]

belts mean nothing anymore

 

[Source]

I like it because otherwise we may never see Jones vs Rumble.

I just want to see this fucking fight. I don't care if it's for candy bar and a bus pass.

 

[MMAAAM]

Wait a minute. Isn't Jones the interim champion already?

You mean to tell me that after he beat OSP he won the interim belt and then because of pissing hot he was stripped of said belt and now he's gonna fight Rumble for that interim belt again?

 

[sub_thug]

This doesn't make sense from anything other than a marketing perspective. DC is the undisputed champ, and he's capable of defending his belt.

Dana just wants to market a Champ vs Champ fight in addition to selling the rematch storyline between those two ever-feuding fighters. It could be the biggest fight in LHW history (in terms of numbers at the gate and PPV), and Dana wants every penny he can get from it.

 

[Apollo33]

This is actually for the real title

The original title fight before Jones got busted for coke for Jones vs Rumble

 

[lenbiasgoat]

Makes no sense at all

 

[BisexualMMA]

Patrick Cummins vs Ryan Bader for Deputy Assistant Interim Belt.

 

[ClosetVitorFan]

Jones should be out 2 years. Don't know why Dana is talking Jones and title fights. This company is so corrupt. I hope UFC just cuts the charade and eliminates USADA.

 

[DaGenius]

The iterim part is totally unnecessary

 

[Neitzsche]

Wait a minute. Isn't Jones the interim champion already?

Wow. Completely forgot about that, way to add another layer of confusion.

I like it because otherwise we may never see Jones vs Rumble.

At the end of the day, I feel the same. Just a weird scenario nonetheless.

This screams to me that Dana wants Rumble to be his hit man and take out Jon Jones and kill that story.

I think you're on to something. Makes sense.

I see it as either Jones uses his star power to build someone else up, or this perhaps reinvigorates a story line between DC and Jones with a win over Rumble.

 

[Apollo33]

They should just make every fight a title fight

Intercontinental LHW interim championship, Junior LHW disputed interim championship etc.

 

[Steve-French]

It's a weird situation though. Rumble has done enough to earn a shot and while Jones has been doing some shit head things no one has beat him causing him to lose his title. Jones also holds a decisive win over the current champ.

On paper this makes zero sense, but I can definitely see where Dana is Coming from on this.

 

[Nightmaree]

makes zero sense, DC should wait one year without a fight? lol if Rumble/Jones is happeing, make DC vs Glover then, i dont care, Gus got his shot after being KTFO'd too

 

[Neitzsche]

They should just make every fight a title fight

Intercontinental LHW interim championship, Junior LHW disputed interim championship etc.

Starting to feel a bit like boxing. I get belt vs belt fights adds intrigue, but if you overplay this belt narrative I can see it getting too watered down for peeps to care. Then again, I'm speaking from a hardcore mma fan point of view.

On a further note, anybody else notice a lot of the promos had Conor with the belt vs Nate? I think this was just to play up the importance to the casuals who probably thought it was a title fight.