The Aspinall Interim situation - Could Tom equal a record and/or break one?

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Tom has had the interim belt for a year and two weeks (since he beat Pav at 295 in New York). He has defended it once (against Blaydes, at 304 in Manchester).

I found it hard to research, but I think the longest anyone has had an interim belt is a year, five months, two weeks and three days: Renan Barão won the Interim Bantamweight Belt at 149, in Calgary on 21/7/12, defended it twice (16/2/13 and 21/9/13), then was promoted to full champ on 6/1/14.

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This is the only time an interim belt has been defended twice and one has never been defended more than twice.

So if Jones's shenanigans continue could Tom possibly equal Barão's record, and become only the second fighter to defend an interim title twice? If he still has the interim belt on the 29th of April he will become the longest-reigning interim champ ever (unless there's someone who was interim longer than Barao, which I couldn't find).
 
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I don't think Dana wants Jones to fight Alex, and I don't think Jones wants to fight Tom. According to Dana, Tom will be in the next HW title fight, so Jones would have to take that fight or vacate. I don't think Tom will defend again as an interim, he has stated he wouldn't recently in the media.
 
joy2day said:
I don't think Dana wants Jones to fight Alex, and I don't think Jones wants to fight Tom. According to Dana, Tom will be in the next HW title fight, so Jones would have to take that fight or vacate. I don't think Tom will defend again as an interim, he has stated he wouldn't recently in the media.
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Jones has to defend or vacate, otherwise this is unfair to Tom Aspinall. If Tom has to defend his interim title again, that's yet another title defense that technically doesn't count on his record. And while Tom is busy fighting actual ranked top 5 contenders, Jon Jones will be pandering for more fights against unranked heavyweight fighters.
 
Yeah Tom defending his interim belt is awkward once, but more than once is already a joke... But the problem is JJ said he was willing to give the belt to Tom... But it seems Tom prefers to fight more interim decisions than get the belt without fighting JJ. Specially if Alex Poatan is next to face him as speculated, which to him is a worth fight due to Alex Poatan's huge weight as a super star... And one that honestly is a huge challenge, a dangerous match up to Tom...
 
joy2day said:
I don't think Dana wants Jones to fight Alex, and I don't think Jones wants to fight Tom. According to Dana, Tom will be in the next HW title fight, so Jones would have to take that fight or vacate. I don't think Tom will defend again as an interim, he has stated he wouldn't recently in the media.
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It seems Tom's next fight won't be JJ, following Tom's most recent video, he will fight once or two before JJ. He called a HW very good kickboxer to train with him --- Rico --- and the kickboxer was saying "let's make sure that Tom faces JJ!!!!" ... And before that, Tom had posted a video with Poatan as the thumbnail, so that's why I think Tom's next fight will be Alex Poatan. Alex Poatan in a recent video was talking happier than usual and saying "you guys will see big things soon!!! I'll come back winning, I've always told this!!". When he was rating the fighters and gave both JJ and Aspinall a 9 score, when the interviewer mentioned Aspinall, Poatan also talked kinda silently to himself in low voice "That's the fight that I've been wishing for so much..."
 
Luffy said:
It seems Tom's next fight won't be JJ, following Tom's most recent video, he will fight once or two before JJ. He called a HW very good kickboxer to train with him --- Rico --- and the kickboxer was saying "let's make sure that Tom faces JJ!!!!" ... And before that, Tom had posted a video with Poatan as the thumbnail, so that's why I think Tom's next fight will be Alex Poatan. Alex Poatan in a recent video was talking happier than usual and saying "you guys will see big things soon!!! I'll come back winning, I've always told this!!". When he was rating the fighters and gave both JJ and Aspinall a 9 score, when the interviewer mentioned Aspinall, Poatan also talked kinda silently to himself in low voice "That's the fight that I've been wishing for so much..."
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I actually have no idea what you are talking about- just in the media today Jon shot down any notion he would fight Tom, as he has from the start. Tom is really getting into unlikely speculation on that one. If Jon wanted to fight Tom for the title, he would defend it- not wait around for a couple more years and then fight when Tom is the champ.
 
Longest reigning interim champ is reasonably likely, but tying, much less breaking, the record for interim title defenses is not particularly plausible outside multiple injury scenarios such as Tom is injured, can't unify, but is allowed to keep his interim title and returns when the champ is injured but not stripped.
 
JBJ was here said:
scenarios such as Tom is injured, can't unify, but is allowed to keep his interim title and returns when the champ is injured but not stripped.
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What a fuckin clusterfuck that would be
 
joy2day said:
I actually have no idea what you are talking about- just in the media today Jon shot down any notion he would fight Tom, as he has from the start. Tom is really getting into unlikely speculation on that one. If Jon wanted to fight Tom for the title, he would defend it- not wait around for a couple more years and then fight when Tom is the champ.
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Did you even read what I wrote? Because your answer is kinda.... Totally not related to what I wrote.
 
If Aspinall continues to “defend” the interim championship it would be one of the most hilarious and bizarre moments in MMA history.

Imagine an interim champ breaking the defense record while Jones continues to duck for money fights. What a time that would be.
 
I don't understand the premise. Tom is no longer interim champ. The interim title dissolved when JJ fought Stipe for the real championship.
 
I have no doubt if Tom stays healthy he'll be regarded as the goat at HW. Jon isn't avoiding Tom for no good reason.
 
I’ll say Tom gets one more defence just to help build the jones fight into the biggest fight of his career before he retires.
 
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