Interim MW belt or a MW Grand Prix?

[dipstickjimmy]

With the current situation at MW in the UFC I think they should forget just making a MW Interim title and be more creative. With the possibility of GSP winning and not defending I would prefer to see a Grand Prix to re establish a true MW champion. It would create new story lines and rivalry's, serve as content for several PPVs and the tourney final could be Co Main to Bisping vs GSP.

here is the top 10 MWs in the UFC outside the Champion:
1 Romero
2 Whittaker
3 Mousasi
4 Gastelum
5 Rockhold
6 Jacare
7 Weidman
8 Anderson
9 Brunson
10 Branch

if Yoel and Whittaker are the top 2 then they get a by into the semi-final.
the 3-10 ranked face off in an 8 man bracket with the first fights two 5 min rounds and Sudden death if tied. Second round the same night is three 5 min rounds. The two winning fighters face Yoel and Whittaker on another PPV and the winners fight for the Interim MW belt as Co main and if GSP were to refuse to defend or vacates then they are the Undisputed champion.

What do you prefer, a MW Grand Prix or just jump to Whittaker vs Yoel for the Interim?

 

[bladee]

the mma tournament dream needs to die off already

 

[smiles mma]

Jump to interim

 

[Reach4theSky]

Sure, a tournament sounds great.

Will never happen..

 

[Jay philips]

Hell their is an interim title in every other weight class especially the ones Conor is in so one more won't hurt

 

[Reach4theSky]

Hell their is an interim title in every other weight class especially the ones Conor is in so one more won't hurt

The UFC has made me hate the word ''interim''...

 

[WandySaku2]

Honestly, now that WME is in charge a tournament is probably more likely than before (still a slim chance though).

 

[Draxton]

the mma tournament dream needs to die off already

Sure, a tournament sounds great.

Will never happen..

With weight cuts and training injuries and failed tests, a tournament would never work now-a-days.

Plus a 10 man tournament at MW? That would take the better part of a whole year to complete. People would lose interest faster than a Mighty Mouse fight.

 

[007]

Would be great but not realistic

 

[Wanderlei Industries]

the mma tournament dream needs to die off already

Why? Because it works?

 

[Goodfella86]

It would be amazing. It would take a lot of money to make a tournament work, though. The fighters would have to be reliable. Injuries happen, yes, but I'm talking about how too many fighters can barely keep their word for one fight, let alone 4.


Too much regulation here in the states. PRIDE would get things done, year after year. They would book a 16-man tournament, with 3 events over the course or 4 months- and somehow*, everybody would show up. Even their champions would enter the fuckin tournaments (Fedor, Wand 2x, Hendo).

The sport was just different, altogether. You could never get even one of today's top fighters to agree to fight up to 4 top fighters in 4 months- let alone 16. There's too much horseshit and haggling. Even during Final Conflict, I could see one of the finalists trying to renegotiate his contract between the semis and finals.



It was so good back then. Such grit. Josh Barnett fought prime Nogueira and prime Crocop 2 hours apart. Rampage Jackson fought prime Liddell and prime Wanderlei 2 hours apart. Can you imagine an event that features elite semis like Rockhold/Whittaker and Romero/Mousasi- and the winners fight in the main event finale? That finale fightis exponentially greater because of their semis fights earlier in the night.



The UFC would have to start small. Do an 8 man Grand Prix. 8 fighters- maybe 4 alternates (or 8 alternates). And they'd have to do it over the course of at least two events, maybe even 3. I hope some commission will allow elite fighters to fight twice in a night, because it really is the coolest thing.

If they had a yearly grand prix, I think a lot of guys would become UFC fans. Guys love filling out brackets.


*steroids and dirty money

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Would lose my shit for a UFC MW Grand prix. Only in my dreams...

 

[JUST_BOB]

UFC better start thinking like OP because their last event sold 300k lol.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

With weight cuts and training injuries and failed tests, a tournament would never work now-a-days.

Plus a 10 man tournament at MW? That would take the better part of a whole year to complete. People would lose interest faster than a Mighty Mouse fight.

Bellator just did a LHW tourney with 2 rounds in one night. I would have the top 2 advance to the Semi Final. The tourney would have 2 rounds first night. The two surviving fighters face the top 2 on a set date and the winners of that face off for the Interim as the Co Main on the GSP vs Bisping PPV. Any losing fighter can be subbed in for injured fighters as needed. Losing a SD is front of the line, UD that was close next (ie 48-47 etc).

If GSP vs Bisping was booked for Oct 28th last Sat in Oct then the Interim title is Co Main
I would seek to make the winners have a Unification bout on Dec 30 which is a Sat.
That means you only need 2 dates between now and end of Oct. If announced today make round one end of June and round 2 in Aug. Winners fight in Oct and hopefully winners fight in Dec. Have the fighters in the bottom 8 fight for 2 prizes, shot at the title (entry into 4 man tourney for the Interim) and a cash award for winning the 8 man.

I know it will never actually happen but its more for discussion on if you would prefer that to random Interim title and how you might tweak it if it were to actually happen.