when has this EVER happened? Don't mention times unification bouts DIDN'T happen. mention a time where the UFC would not LET it happen.
I'm a little confused by your post? I'm assuming you mean when did unification bouts actually happen?
Before Ferguson/Covington, the UFC had a pretty good track record with interim titles. Some examples:
-Chuck fought Randy for the 205 interim title, and Randy unified the Title against Tito Ortiz
-Arlovski fought Syvlia for the HW interim when Frank Mir was injured, and was later promoted to full champ
-GSP fought Hughes for the 170 interim, and unified the title with Serra
-Condit beat Diaz to win the 170 interim, and unified with GSP
-Barao won the 135 interim and was promoted to full champ when Cruz couldn't fight
-Conor won the 145 interim and unified against Aldo
-Whittaker won the 185 interim against Romero, and was promoted to full champ when GSP vacated
The first time the UFC disrespected an interim title (to my knowledge): 'Minotauro' Nogueira fought Sylvia to win the HW interim title when Randy Couture was in dispute with the UFC. He then defended the interim against Frank Mir, losing it. Frank Mir then defended the interim against Carwin, losing it. And Carwin finally unified the HW title, losing to Brock Lesnar after the UFC let Lesnar fight Couture for the HW title.
But even in the above example, the UFC eventually unified the titles. Basically, the UFC
always kept a championship around when they created it. If necessary, they would just have two simultaneous championships in a division until the titles were unified.
Covington and Ferguson represent a fundamental departure from the UFC's previous philosophy on interim titles. Rather than keep those titles active until unification, even in parallel to the undisputed championship, the UFC have decided to simply strip interim champions at will. To me, this is unacceptable.
