The state of Heavyweight

[burningspear]

Quality HWs are like gold dust, see Dana's breakdown over Francis.
Damn Hunter took him for countless dinners and the fucker still wouldnt bend over

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

I’ve been repeating this for years now, but if it the very first thing an interim champ does is unify the belt again, then you didn’t need an interim champ. The UFC has been crowning interim champs solely as a marketing tool for awhile now, it really devalues their titles and does a disservice in the long run.

That only depends on the activity of the champ. If the champ continues to be out, then the interim should continue to defend, but if the champ continues to fight and defend against people outside of the interim, then that would be even more devaluing.

Crowning an interim champ and then immediately going to unification means you're just a glorified #1 contender.

Crowning an interim champ, then not moving to unification but instead keep 2 "champs" continuously going separately means that you're not actually a contender at all.

 

[BFoe]

That only depends on the activity of the champ. If the champ continues to be out, then the interim should continue to defend, but if the champ continues to fight and defend against people outside of the interim, then that would be even more devaluing.

Crowning an interim champ and then immediately going to unification means you're just a glorified #1 contender.

Crowning an interim champ, then not moving to unification but instead keep 2 "champs" continuously going separately means that you're not actually a contender at all.

I basically agree with this, but I’d add that there aren’t many times when the champ should be defending against someone other than the interim champ. As a general rule, an interim should be crowned when the champ is going to be out so long that you need an interim champ just to keep the belt active and being defended. When the champ returns, his immediate fight should be with the interim champ to unify.


That should be the standard operating basis unless there’s a unique situation. A good example imo was Bellator a few years ago when Fedor was about to retire. Bader was champ but had gone back to LHW to enter their LHW GP. So they crowned an interim champ, Valentin Moldavsky from Fedor Team. Fedor wanted Bader in his retirement fight (plus had beaten Rampage and Tim Johnson to earn the shot), but Bellator had fucked up Kongo’s booking so bad that Kongo was long overdue for a title shot himself. What they did is make Fedor sit on the sidelines for ages while Bader reunified against Moldavsky, then fought Kongo, and then finally fought Fedor.
—Why didn’t they just book Moldavsky vs Kongo for the interim and Bader vs Fedor for the undisputed title?
It just seemed like a much better solution.

 

[volcom5]

What in the world are you talking about? So happy Jon's gone for good and looking forward to an actual flight coming up

you do understand fights were coming up either way with or without Jones. The HW division has been having fights, it’s not like the entire division stopped.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

you do understand fights were coming up either way with or without Jones. The HW division has been having fights, it’s not like the entire division stopped.

The consequences did. Fights  were still happening... with otherwise meaningless results

 

[Captain Herb]

you do understand fights were coming up either way with or without Jones. The HW division has been having fights, it’s not like the entire division stopped.

Championship fight. A real championship fight for once

 

[Leinster Rugby]

you would pay francis nganou 30 million a man who can generate 69k ppvs?
you blame the ufc because they dont wanna lose money on nganou

also a 38 yr old jon jones that doesnt wanna fight anymore

imagine a 38 year old fedor people would plead and beg for fedor to just retire

Sorry. I just can't take you seriously.

 

[hswrestler]

meh the ufc should just sign whatever big bodies are available. Maybe we can get dillon brooks or draymond green in there once they get suspended.

 

[bng]

state of HW? Dunno, maybe Oklahoma but some wont agree