Only two GOAT candidates never had an interim title issued.

[DoctorDeelon]

You can't hold interim titles against champions anymore. Francis Ngannou won the title in late March 2021 and by early August 2021 two other guys are fighting for an interim title. Interim "titles" are ridiculous.

 

[Fioretti]

You can't hold interim titles against champions anymore. Francis Ngannou won the title in late March 2021 and by early August 2021 two other guys are fighting for an interim title. Interim "titles" are ridiculous.

I agree in the case of Ngannou that the interim was issued way too early, but it was a result of his refusal to accept a fight. That was never the case with DJ or Silva, and the fact remains that he actually had an interim title issued before he could even get one defense. Ngannou actually isn't even in consideration here, so it's essentially irrelevant, but I understand your point. Fedor, Jones, GSP, and Aldo had interim titles issued for various reasons, but mostly due to inactivity. Jones is a special case, of course. Haha!

 

[Fioretti]

Updated the OP with the length of reigns for both guys.

Spider Mouse Bless

 

[capnlarge]

Modern champions are at a disadvantage because now UFC will do an interim title in 3 months

 

[Fioretti]

Modern champions are at a disadvantage because now UFC will do an interim title in 3 months

In the case of Ngannou, yeah, but again, none of these GOAT candidates are/were modern champions. They were all champs at the same time. Fedor was a bit earlier than the others, but still had an interim title issued in PRIDE. I may be wrong, but I believe it's the only interim title ever issued by PRIDE? I'll check. Yep, it was.

 

[EYEKICKFACES]

GSP couldn't finish pedestrian fighters. Doesn't belong in that list

 

[I WILL CUT YOU]

So?

 

[TempleoftheDog]

So now blowing out your knee is a reason to hate? The TS is a known GSP hater and his opinion should carry no weight at all. Backs the Ped cheat, but hates on the guy that never popped?? lol

 

[ferrisjso]

That's not a fair comparison because back then Dana only issued an interim title as a last resort when a fighter was out for years. How serious a title was taken was clearly a priority to him and the only justification was inactivity for years which caused doubt that the current champ was still the divisions best fighter.

Fast forward to 2021 and Dana is now apparently using the interim title as a negotiation tactic against champs. By those standards he might have made one at MW after AS embarrased him at UFC 112 or when MM was refusing to fight TJ. Not that he'd be right(I've argued MM was right) but Dana is way too trigger happy now(not just with making interim belts but stripping interim champs). UFC has a lot of cards to fill and even if the champ isn't doing anything wrong more title fights makes that job easier and he's def pushed the legitamacy of the belts to the back of his list of prioritys.

 

[Fioretti]

That's not a fair comparison because back then Dana only issued an interim title as a last resort when a fighter was out for years. How serious a title was taken was clearly a priority to him and the only justification was inactivity for years which caused doubt that the current champ was still the divisions best fighter.

Fast forward to 2021 and Dana is now apparently using the interim title as a negotiation tactic against champs. By those standards he might have made one at MW after AS embarrased him at UFC 112 or when MM was refusing to fight TJ. Not that he'd be right(I've argued MM was right) but Dana is way too trigger happy now(not just with making interim belts but stripping interim champs). UFC has a lot of cards to fill and even if the champ isn't doing anything wrong more title fights makes that job easier and he's def pushed the legitamacy of the belts to the back of his list of prioritys.

All the GOAT candidates were champs in the same time period.

 

[Fioretti]

So now blowing out your knee is a reason to hate? The TS is a known GSP hater and his opinion should carry no weight at all. Backs the Ped cheat, but hates on the guy that never popped?? lol

The only hate I see in this thread is from desperate fanboys who can't handle that Silva and DJ are the only GOAT candidates who never had an interim title issued during their reign.

Is normal.

 

[AbominableJoman]

In Silva's case, steroids helps to heal injuries faster.

Well said

 

[Fioretti]

Well said

Cheers