The lack of Heavyweight fights or the situation with the Belt is ridiculous & illogical

[Diamondsareforever47]

So they give Gane and Lewis an Interim title shot only like 4 months and 1 week after Ngannou fought in 2021 and the basis for this was that he was injured and would be out of commission for 1 year. They announced this interim belt shot like almost immediately after Ngannou fought Gane and announced he was injured and out for a year.

And yet here we are coming up on 1 year without a Heavyweight Title fight (January 22nd will be 1 year exactly)

There is no talk of when the next title shot it is and even when there is a title shot announced it will be 3 months minimum after the announcement date and more likely to be 4 to 6 months later meaning we will go 1.5 year or so without seeing the Heavyweight belt defended.

We do not EVEN have an interim title being announced which should of been announced after it was proven Ngannou would be out for a year. In fact Gane and Sergei should fight for this now or Blaydes and Gane should of fought for this interim belt in November of December or in late summer. Actually after Ngannou confirmed he was out for a year (he said this in February of last year) an Interim title shot should of been announced immediately and an interim belt fight in summer of last year AND if Ngannou could NOT return by December of last year the interim champ would become full champ and defend it later last year.

 

[austinblair]

Need to move on from Francis but doesn’t seem like UFC is going to. I’m all for fighter pay and blah blah blah but OP makes a great point. Francis had just fought and wasn’t gonna be out half the time Conrad was and they made interim title. If Francis isn’t gonna fight give whoever the real belt and let’s get to defending it

 

[Diamondsareforever47]

Need to move on from Francis but doesn’t seem like UFC is going to. I’m all for fighter pay and blah blah blah but OP makes a great point. Francis had just fought and wasn’t gonna be out half the time Conrad was and they made interim title. If Francis isn’t gonna fight give whoever the real belt and let’s get to defending it

The UFC is not even following their own rule. Some said they made that interim title shot in 2021 as a way to punish Ngannou but to my memory it is standard for the UFC to make an interim title shot if the champion will be out for 1 year or longer. It is a joke that if we get an interim shot it will be 1 year after the belt was last defended.

In fact the longest I think there was a delay was when GSP was out

GSP fought April 30th 2011 then got injured after and was out till November 17th 2012 basically 18 months.

February 2012 they put the Interim belt up for Nick Diaz vs Condit. Condit wins then fights GSP in November of 2012 for the belt to win or make it undisputed. Condit was an interim champ for 8 months almost 9 months which is absurd if you think about it but at least we got an Interim title shot and the division moved on and the 2 top contenders fought for a belt. Diaz lost but then got the next title shot vs GSP 4 months after GSP returned and defended the belt and unified the belt after he beat Condit. In the end it all worked itself out! and it was fixed.

 

[ArtardFiesta]

ufc has always had problems with the hw division. early days champs would vacate the belt and never defend it.
then it was in the shadow of pride, while tim sylvia was their best hw.

it's golden era was during the pride/ufc merger + brock and then you and jds and cain come up to carry it

now it has returned back to it's regular status. it's a dangerous division, you don't need much skill because you have 265 pound men throwing heavy punches. lots of guys don't want to do it without the big pay.

this isn't mma circa 2008 where guys would fight for 60K simply cause they were driven by the competition.

people gave tito shit back in the day for always trying to negotiate more money, but what tito was fighting for a guy like rob font gets for ever fight.

so while the mma skill is greater in fighters these days, they get paid more as well and can simply exit once they have built a profile they can cash in through social media.

 

[Diamondsareforever47]

ufc has always had problems with the hw division. early days champs would vacate the belt and never defend it.
then it was in the shadow of pride, while tim sylvia was their best hw.

it's golden era was during the pride/ufc merger + brock and then you and jds and cain come up to carry it

now it has returned back to it's regular status. it's a dangerous division, you don't need much skill because you have 265 pound men throwing heavy punches. lots of guys don't want to do it without the big pay.

this isn't mma circa 2008 where guys would fight for 60K simply cause they were driven by the competition.

people gave tito shit back in the day for always trying to negotiate more money, but what tito was fighting for a guy like rob font gets for ever fight.

so while the mma skill is greater in fighters these days, they get paid more as well and can simply exit once they have built a profile they can cash in through social media.

Guys who are top 10 make at least 150k after tax per fight last I checked. Even with inflation that is good money. Overeem was top 10 never a UFC champ and his last paycheck was like 800k just to show up... Pav made 200k last fight and made 100k vs Lewis were as Lewis made like 150k just to show up not bad not counting some revenue elsewhere they get. Also I love PRIDE but the reason it was so great was how hungry fighters were the solution is not to pay everyone a lot that will make them hold out longer and kill the desire in them as they get fat.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

The UFC is not even following their own rule. Some said they made that interim title shot in 2021 as a way to punish Ngannou but to my memory it is standard for the UFC to make an interim title shot if the champion will be out for 1 year or longer. It is a joke that if we get an interim shot it will be 1 year after the belt was last defended.

In fact the longest I think there was a delay was when GSP was out

GSP fought April 30th 2011 then got injured after and was out till November 17th 2012 basically 18 months.

February 2012 they put the Interim belt up for Nick Diaz vs Condit. Condit wins then fights GSP in November of 2012 for the belt to win or make it undisputed. Condit was an interim champ for 8 months almost 9 months which is absurd if you think about it but at least we got an Interim title shot and the division moved on and the 2 top contenders fought for a belt. Diaz lost but then got the next title shot vs GSP 4 months after GSP returned and defended the belt and unified the belt after he beat Condit. In the end it all worked itself out! and it was fixed.

That was punishment for Ngannou before. They used him not taking a fight they offered when they knew he couldn't possibly take the fight due to him traveling back home and having to renew his visa or something like that. They were already trying to extend his contract and to use leverage against him to resign back then. Ngannou was talking about all this before hand. UFC used their interim option already and Ngannou ended up beating Gane. They can't play the same cards twice, Ngannou won the last hand they played.

It's also because they are trying to see how all this plays out, making an interim title just for Ngannou to vacate completely discredit the interim title once Ngannou leaves. Either way Ngannou leaving will pretty much discredit the HW division and champion in UFC. But UFC will have a fight for a vacant title if Ngannou leaves, not upgrade the interim to the champion just so the optics are better.

UFC can't keep playing the same hand over and over again, so now they are waiting to see what happens and how things play out. Ngannou has all the leverage and options. It's dumb to keep repeating the same moves thinking it'll have a different outcome. Ngannou's management team is too smart for that, that's why Dana and UFC hate them.

 

[Diamondsareforever47]

That was punishment for Ngannou before. They used him not taking a fight they offered when they knew he couldn't possibly take the fight due to him traveling back home and having to renew his visa or something like that. They were already trying to extend his contract and to use leverage against him to resign back then. Ngannou was talking about all this before hand. UFC used their interim option already and Ngannou ended up beating Gane. They can't play the same cards twice, Ngannou won the last hand they played.

It's also because they are trying to see how all this plays out, making an interim title just for Ngannou to vacate completely discredit the interim title once Ngannou leaves. Either way Ngannou leaving will pretty much discredit the HW division and champion in UFC. But UFC will have a fight for a vacant title if Ngannou leaves, not upgrade the interim to the champion just so the optics are better.

UFC can't keep playing the same hand over and over again, so now they are waiting to see what happens and how things play out. Ngannou has all the leverage and options. It's dumb to keep repeating the same moves thinking it'll have a different outcome. Ngannou's management team is too smart for that, that's why Dana and UFC hate them.

Yeah but it is absurd. March is approaching and the Jones Nganmou thing seems unlikely. Let us say Ngannou agrees to a fight in summer there we are with 1.5 year with no title defense a joke.

 

[WHITEBELT JESUS]

Pretender Series Contestant Era HW’s…

1st UFC HW Champion…

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

So they give Gane and Lewis an Interim title shot only like 4 months and 1 week after Ngannou fought in 2021 and the basis for this was that he was injured and would be out of commission for 1 year. They announced this interim belt shot like almost right after Ngannou fought and announced and injury.

And yet here we are coming up on 1 year without a Heavyweight Title fight (January 22nd will be 1 year exactly)

There is no talk of when the next title shot it is and even when there is a title shot announced it will be 3 months minimum after the announcement date and more likely to be 4 to 6 months later meaning we will go 1.5 year or so without seeing the Heavyweight belt defended.

We do not EVEN have an interim title being announced which should of been announced after it was proven Ngannou would be out for a year. In fact Gane and Sergei should fight for this now or Blaydes and Gane should of fought for this interim belt in November of December or in late summer. Actually after Ngannou confirmed he was out for a year (he said this in February of last year) an Interim title shot should of been announced immediately and an interim belt fight in summer of last year AND if Ngannou could NOT return by December of last year the interim champ would become full champ and defend it later last year.

Right? Look how quick the LHW turnaround was after Jiri got injured. HW is a hot (boring) mess.

 

[PEDRO IVO RUSSO MIRANDA]

So they give Gane and Lewis an Interim title shot only like 4 months and 1 week after Ngannou fought in 2021 and the basis for this was that he was injured and would be out of commission for 1 year. They announced this interim belt shot like almost right after Ngannou fought and announced and injury.

And yet here we are coming up on 1 year without a Heavyweight Title fight (January 22nd will be 1 year exactly)

There is no talk of when the next title shot it is and even when there is a title shot announced it will be 3 months minimum after the announcement date and more likely to be 4 to 6 months later meaning we will go 1.5 year or so without seeing the Heavyweight belt defended.

We do not EVEN have an interim title being announced which should of been announced after it was proven Ngannou would be out for a year. In fact Gane and Sergei should fight for this now or Blaydes and Gane should of fought for this interim belt in November of December or in late summer. Actually after Ngannou confirmed he was out for a year (he said this in February of last year) an Interim title shot should of been announced immediately and an interim belt fight in summer of last year AND if Ngannou could NOT return by December of last year the interim champ would become full champ and defend it later last year.

Gane already have his chance
They need to do blaydes vs stipe, or blaydes vs pavlovich for interim...
If they do blaydes vs stipe, do gane vs pav for next interim title shot,, if UFC do Pav vs Blaydes, do gane vs stipe for ITS eliminator. (assuming big frank still inactive)
IMO the best matchmaking is Blaydes vs stipe, and gane vs Pav.
We also have a Jon Jones factor... But we can't count with him, so who knows

 

[HHJ]

Be careful. Some posters might not like you guys talking about this situation cos it involves money

 

[Diamondsareforever47]

Right? Look how quick the LHW turnaround was after Jiri got injured. HW is a hot (boring) mess.

It should not be boring though

Either Gane or Blaydes should be an interim champ now with Ngannou stripped and Pavlovich fighting the winner soon. If Ngannou returns he would face Jones for the chance to be the #1 contender and fight after Sergei does for the belt

 

[MDoza]

Dana doesn’t want to create a Heavyweight superstar because they have too much negotiating power.

 

[chimpoehurricane]

So they give Gane and Lewis an Interim title shot only like 4 months and 1 week after Ngannou fought in 2021 and the basis for this was that he was injured and would be out of commission for 1 year. They announced this interim belt shot like almost right after Ngannou fought and announced and injury.

And yet here we are coming up on 1 year without a Heavyweight Title fight (January 22nd will be 1 year exactly)

There is no talk of when the next title shot it is and even when there is a title shot announced it will be 3 months minimum after the announcement date and more likely to be 4 to 6 months later meaning we will go 1.5 year or so without seeing the Heavyweight belt defended.

We do not EVEN have an interim title being announced which should of been announced after it was proven Ngannou would be out for a year. In fact Gane and Sergei should fight for this now or Blaydes and Gane should of fought for this interim belt in November of December or in late summer. Actually after Ngannou confirmed he was out for a year (he said this in February of last year) an Interim title shot should of been announced immediately and an interim belt fight in summer of last year AND if Ngannou could NOT return by December of last year the interim champ would become full champ and defend it later last year.

Francis is Mia and became a diva after the belt and with contracts meaning ufc goofed letting him fight for the title and on no contract anymore. There's a Cyril vs Jones t's interim belt. That needs making.

 

[chimpoehurricane]

It should not be boring though

Either Gane or Blaydes should be an interim champ now with Ngannou stripped and Pavlovich fighting the winner soon. If Ngannou returns he would face Jones for the chance to be the #1 contender and fight after Sergei does for the belt

This is moronic.

Jones vs Cyril or Stipe interim vs Francis.

 

[Tweak896]

They had to wait the contract. UFC will book Ngannou if he signs or strip him if he doesn't. Behind the scenes there must be Ngannou vs UFC negotiations that have been strained for a while.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

It should not be boring though

Either Gane or Blaydes should be an interim champ now with Ngannou stripped and Pavlovich fighting the winner soon. If Ngannou returns he would face Jones for the chance to be the #1 contender and fight after Sergei does for the belt

Haha, of course it should´t/doesn't have to be boring, which is why the constipated queue is even more frustrating.

 

[Shano123]

Just cut Francis loose and move the division on. How many years has it been like this.