Interim "titles" are a disgrace and cheapen what it means to be a UFC champion

DoctorDeelon said:
Dana White's go-to line was always "we looked at what boxing was doing wrong" as the blueprint for himself and the Fertitas to follow in building up the UFC.

But if you talk to boxing fans, the biggest complaint is that there are too many belts. And here Dana is promoting a fake fucking title as he has done so often in the past. This is not for a world championship, it's a glorified #1 contender spot.

There's no reason for an interim title. If a champion can't defend for a long period, strip him and have two guys fight for the vacant belt. But seeing as how Ngannou just won the title like 4 months ago, that doesn't really apply.

And it means nothing. Nobody looked at Justin Gaethje, Tony Ferguson or Dustin Poirier as world champions. It's fake. Nobody acknowledges it. So why does Dana try to con us? The winner of Gane/Lewis is not going to be a world champ.
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Don’t really mind. It’s just a way to indicate that the guy who is gonna fight for the belt next isn’t just another guy. Dan Hardy, Glover Teixeira, Anthony Smith — lots of guys have gotten shots that were never really the number one guy. Giving a little extra boost to Tony/Gaethje winner or Lewis/Gane winner seems fine to me.
 
jsbx45 said:
This fight is a BS marketing gimmick and UFC trying to leverage thier position with Ngannou and Jones. It is not a bad fight really, but for the belt? C'mon man, this is #1 bullshit whether you are a Ngannou fan or not.
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It’s not for THE belt though, and everyone knows that.
 
Interim belts have their place which is to crown an “acting” champion when the champion is unable to defend for an extended amount of time. UFC now uses them as promotional tools to give artificial meaning to fights.
 
laleggenda27 said:
The UFC has made all the same mistakes/decisions that turned boxing into a small niche sport:
  • The ppv model
  • Too many titles
  • Corrupt/incompetent judging
  • Not allowing cross-promotion, i.e., preventing certain fights from ever happening
At this point, the UFC's saving grace is that most of the sport's best fighters are under their umbrella.
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In addition to the big umbrella, they have deep cards, very few gimme fights, and the best guys within a weight class generally face each other.
 
The Interim champion is going to get ppv points off that title in the fight with Francis. It's basically a title fight, winner gets points.
 
A real Interim is the real belt it just means that now the champ is disputed and a match up is in the wings. What happens with the champ coming back doesn't influence a Interim title. Its dumb to think for example Barao wasnt the legit 135 champ he definitely was and Cruzs health shouldn't let him hold it hostage. Had Cruz relinquished it, it would have been a "real" belt without fighting Cruz all the same. Khabibs belt over Al might as well of been a interim if thats how fans want to look at the belts.
but UFC has destroyed what a legit Interim championship is so agree now they just shit them out with no merit. This Lewis Gane belt is fucking stupid
 
Shishio said:
Some Interims are validated other not so much....by my math 5ish out of the 20 interims have been valid, so yeah largely an bullshit wasting of time due to someone's ego

Arlovski-Theyre not sure how long Mir will be out, once they know it wont be soon they upped arlovski, this one was fine
Nogueira/Mir/Carwin-made solely to put Lesnar against the actual champ, complete waste of time
Werdum-same as Arlovski basically, Champ (Cain) is injured
Lewis vs Gane-total bullshit this is clearly cus of Jones being a prick/cheating
Couture-pointless Tito didnt wanna fight chuck, then lost to both anyways
Jones-Pointless meandering bullshit cus of Jones cheating
Whittaker-Bullshit cus Bisping wanted to avenge his Hendo Loss
Israel--same as Arlovski basically, Champ (Whittaker) is injured
GSP--same as Arlovski basically, Champ (Serra) is injured
Carlos Condit-UFC was trying to push Diaz cus he was super popular but he fucked it up then got a TS anyways
Covington-this one is dumb between injuries and Colby/Tyron being a bitch its all over the place
Ferguson-Bullshit made to protect McGregor from defending the actual belt
Poirier-Semi bullshit Khabib gets suspended for eagle kicking Conor's team
Gaethje-Covid bullshit
Conor McGregor-Semi bullshit, they wanted to put a belt on Conor but Aldo is injured
Aldo-Same as Ferguson made because Conor refused to defend either title
Holloway-Not gonna lie I dont really know/remember why this needed to happen, I think they wanted to put a belt on Pettis
Renan Barao-same as Arlovski basically, Champ (Cruz) is injured
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Came in to say this in a lot fewer words lol. Sometimes it’s warranted. In the Francis case it’s a fucking joke and the UFC is once again damaging it’s images for a short term gain.
 
Sometimes the interim belt is pretty much the real belt, like when Renan Barao was champ, I look back and say he was the champ at the time when Cruz was out and eventually vacated.
 
who cares? the belts are stupid, anyway. pretty much all of them. people act like they hold some kind of undeniable significance. they don't.

well, aside from the super hluk belt.
 
DoctorDeelon said:
Dana White's go-to line was always "we looked at what boxing was doing wrong" as the blueprint for himself and the Fertitas to follow in building up the UFC.

But if you talk to boxing fans, the biggest complaint is that there are too many belts. And here Dana is promoting a fake fucking title as he has done so often in the past. This is not for a world championship, it's a glorified #1 contender spot.

There's no reason for an interim title. If a champion can't defend for a long period, strip him and have two guys fight for the vacant belt. But seeing as how Ngannou just won the title like 4 months ago, that doesn't really apply.

And it means nothing. Nobody looked at Justin Gaethje, Tony Ferguson or Dustin Poirier as world champions. It's fake. Nobody acknowledges it. So why does Dana try to con us? The winner of Gane/Lewis is not going to be a world champ.
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Agreed. They should be a last resort. If the champ is out for a year then maybe. The HW interim only exists because Uncle Dana is pissed at something.
 
member when the belt used to mean something and wasnt just a tool
 
laleggenda27 said:
The UFC has made all the same mistakes/decisions that turned boxing into a small niche sport:
  • The ppv model
  • Too many titles
  • Corrupt/incompetent judging
  • Not allowing cross-promotion, i.e., preventing certain fights from ever happening
At this point, the UFC's saving grace is that most of the sport's best fighters are under their umbrella.
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I agree 100%
 
PicoPulse said:
Fight was booked before Nunes withdrew
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Dana was vindicated -- he's lived thru enough fight cancellations that made this fight a solid decision to book and elevate. This fight opportunity worked on multiple levels, ignoring that is just nonsense.
 
Titles are just marketing ploys anyway. It’s not like there’s any prestige left in UFC championships these days
 
I do prefer the use of an Interim Belts rather than simply stripping the champion. This way the UFC still gets the benefits from a marketability standpoint but it doesn't cheapen the actual championship.

For instance, does anyone think of Carlos Condit as a UFC Champion? I certainly never have. He won the Interim belt and if someone were to tell me he's a former UFC Champion I would at first be confused and then I would chuckle.
 
DoctorDeelon said:
Dana White's go-to line was always "we looked at what boxing was doing wrong" as the blueprint for himself and the Fertitas to follow in building up the UFC.

But if you talk to boxing fans, the biggest complaint is that there are too many belts. And here Dana is promoting a fake fucking title as he has done so often in the past. This is not for a world championship, it's a glorified #1 contender spot.

There's no reason for an interim title. If a champion can't defend for a long period, strip him and have two guys fight for the vacant belt. But seeing as how Ngannou just won the title like 4 months ago, that doesn't really apply.

And it means nothing. Nobody looked at Justin Gaethje, Tony Ferguson or Dustin Poirier as world champions. It's fake. Nobody acknowledges it. So why does Dana try to con us? The winner of Gane/Lewis is not going to be a world champ.
Click to expand...

It is a message to Francis about being a company man or getting out.
 
jsbx45 said:
This fight is a BS marketing gimmick and UFC trying to leverage thier position with Ngannou and Jones. It is not a bad fight really, but for the belt? C'mon man, this is #1 bullshit whether you are a Ngannou fan or not.
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It also puts Jones an extra fight away from belt. Dana playing hardball.
 
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