Why interim-belts should be outlawed in MMA.

[The Natural Born Runner]

With this current Jose Aldo (at 145) and Conor McGregor (at 155) scenario, we have 2 weight divisions which are trapped within themselves, where dilemma after dilemma seems to be arising week after week. The issue which creates all of these situations is solely down to the introduction of Interim-Championship belts.

Here's the first issue - So you have Jose Aldo who has recently been promoted to the Featherweight champion of the world, and he was scheduled to fight Max Holloway in February as Max recently became the Interim-Featherweight champion. You've essentially put all your eggs in one basket with Max Holloway now, and this has been proven with his recent pull-out of the Jose Aldo fight.

When you take the risk of creating an interim belt, you are essentially placing all of your trust in the guy who wins and holds that interim belt (Max). The reason why is because you are giving this guy a guaranteed number one contender shot, where he cannot really be jumped over in the queue.

So you have Jose who hasn't fought since the summer, and he's dying for a fight. Now if Holloway vs Pettis wasn't an interim title bout, it makes this a lot easier. You could shoe-horn someone like Cub Swanson or Brian Ortega into a title shot (knowing they would lose) and at least that keeps the division moving and Jose has a payday. Instead, you have an interim title fight and Max wins it, now it's Max or nothing. Because let's say they did scrap Max vs Jose for injury reasons and they make Cub the next in line - and Cub wins! Now you have Cub as the real champion, against a man who is clearly more of the champion as the interim champ.

It makes no sense!

Second issue - Now they are talking about Jose having an Interim Championship bout at 155lbs.

It seems like if that's going to happen it's going to be vs. Khabib, as Tony Ferguson seems to be having contractual issues. Again, it's just pointless if Jose wins, we all know Jose is no Lightweight champion, the guy has never fought there in the UFC up to this point. So imagine he beats Khabib, and then beats Conor, are we then saying that Jose is the best Lightweight in the world off of 2 fights? It's just a bizarre scenario, and you're forcing fights to happen instead of them happening organically.

Biggest mistake ever was making Max Holloway vs Anthony Pettis an interim-title fight, because they have totally screwed up the 145lb division until Max is ready.

They need to stop these interim titles in totality, they just cause issue after issue.

 

[Sakuraba7]

I don't care if there's one belt or five. Fans and critics should be able to tell whose the number one in the division. A single belt can create paper champions, just as likely as having two or three belts.

I find it worse when people actually pretend a belt-holder is the best in the world. Boxing has the problem of 5-6 champs per division but boxing fans are smart enough to always know who the top fighters are.

 

[basementdweller]

it seems to be all about the immediate profit with the UFC now. all of these fake belts made to generate attention to the matches, and the absolute bullshit title fights they're making, are taking a lot away from what a champion in the UFC meant not too long ago. I understand they want to cash in on their popularity, and it's probably the smart thing to do, but as a fan of the sport I feel a little alienated by all this crap.

 

[screaminleeman]

With this current Jose Aldo (at 145) and Conor McGregor (at 155) scenario, we have 2 weight divisions which are trapped within themselves, where dilemma after dilemma seems to be arising week after week. The issue which creates all of these situations is solely down to the introduction of Interim-Championship belts.

Here's the first issue - So you have Jose Aldo who has recently been promoted to the Featherweight champion of the world, and he was scheduled to fight Max Holloway in February as Max recently became the Interim-Featherweight champion. You've essentially put all your eggs in one basket with Max Holloway now, and this has been proven with his recent pull-out of the Jose Aldo fight.

When you take the risk of creating an interim belt, you are essentially placing all of your trust in the guy who wins and holds that interim belt (Max). The reason why is because you are giving this guy a guaranteed number one contender shot, where he cannot really be jumped over in the queue.

So you have Jose who hasn't fought since the summer, and he's dying for a fight. Now if Holloway vs Pettis wasn't an interim title bout, it makes this a lot easier. You could shoe-horn someone like Cub Swanson or Brian Ortega into a title shot (knowing they would lose) and at least that keeps the division moving and Jose has a payday. Instead, you have an interim title fight and Max wins it, now it's Max or nothing. Because let's say they did scrap Max vs Jose for injury reasons and they make Cub the next in line - and Cub wins! Now you have Cub as the real champion, against a man who is clearly more of the champion as the interim champ.

It makes no sense!

Second issue - Now they are talking about Jose having an Interim Championship bout at 155lbs.

It seems like if that's going to happen it's going to be vs. Khabib, as Tony Ferguson seems to be having contractual issues. Again, it's just pointless if Jose wins, we all know Jose is no Lightweight champion, the guy has never fought there in the UFC up to this point. So imagine he beats Khabib, and then beats Conor, are we then saying that Jose is the best Lightweight in the world off of 2 fights? It's just a bizarre scenario, and you're forcing fights to happen instead of them happening organically.

Biggest mistake ever was making Max Holloway vs Anthony Pettis an interim-title fight, because they have totally screwed up the 145lb division until Max is ready.

They need to stop these interim titles in totality, they just cause issue after issue.

Amen Brother.

My long time signature and biggest beef with MMA is my desire to have the established solution in older combat sports to this dilemma not utilized in MMA/ the UFC!

ABSOLUTE "Mandatory title defense time frame vs. the #1 ranked contender" coupled with a ranking system with sufficient quantity of empirical data to make it unbiased" is the obvious answer.

Please keep in mind that Zuffa and Dana banked a fortune NOT allowing this absolute policy to limit their control over who wears the belts.

We may not have the UFC if the UFC had ZERO option other that to strip fighters that built a massive fan base of their belts!

Without it, a Mir can be officially stripped of his belt in a short period of time, and you GSP's, Cruz's, Aldo's and Velasquez's granted FAR more time holding up the WC!

 

[Which Doctor]

 

[eon001]

If it get's fighter more pay and guaranteed title shots then I'm all for it.
What difference does it make to you as a fan? Doesn't effect how they fight in a negative way. In fact, fighting for an interim might actually increase the action.

 

[Threetrees]

This is all Conor's fault

Or Dana's for allowing Conor to ruin two divisions

But I disagree, the two divisions will rebuild themselves in a year or so. It'll all be fine, and this won't matter. A similar chaotic period happened at one point at HW, and no one even remembers it

 

[datfnguy]

it seems to be all about the immediate profit with the UFC now. all of these fake belts made to generate attention to the matches, and the absolute bullshit title fights they're making, are taking a lot away from what a champion in the UFC meant not too long ago. I understand they want to cash in on their popularity, and it's probably the smart thing to do, but as a fan of the sport I feel a little alienated by all this crap.

To say you feel alienated is to say it is something they are doing to you rather than something they are doing for the fighters. Interim belts come into play when a champ is not defending the belt for a long period of time. Conor didn't defend the FW belt for a year and will not be be defending the LW belt for an undetermined amount of time. Would you rather go a year or more with no title fights at all?

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

I don't care if there's one belt or five. Fans and critics should be able to tell whose the number one in the division. A single belt can create paper champions, just as likely as having two or three belts.

I find it worse when people actually pretend a belt-holder is the best in the world. Boxing has the problem of 5-6 champs per division but boxing fans are smart enough to always know who the top fighters are.

I kind of disagree with you.

There should be one belt, and they should really improve the way that they regulate mandatory contenders etc.

Do you not find it totally frustrating that Max Holloway is the only fight possible for Aldo at 145, because of the belt situation? Like, in my aforementioned example, I explained how the interim belt makes Max the only one who can fight for the belt. Imagine they tried to do Aldo vs Ortega for example, as the title fight and Brian was to win - you telling me that is fair on Max? The interim champ who has a ridiculous win streak, and now Brian is considered the "real champ" - it just gets messy. Giving Max an interim belt gives him the license to drop out injured and hold up the whole division.

You also say that boxing fans know who the top fighter is, well I once again totally disagree.

When Charles Martin was a belt holder and he fought Anthony Joshua, yeah, we all knew Joshua would win. But now flip it over to the current Heavyweight situation, you have Joshua, Klitschko, Wilder and Fury all in that conversation - Wlad has lost 1 fight in like 10 years, Joshua is a prodigy but is unproven, Wilder is essentially a much more experienced version of Joshua as he hasn't been all that tested and then you have Fury who had all the belts stripped but is the man who beat Wlad. If they all held 1 belt each who on earth would know who the best is unless they fight each other.

They need to keep the belts to a minimum to avoid fight booking issues, which they have big-time now.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

it seems to be all about the immediate profit with the UFC now. all of these fake belts made to generate attention to the matches, and the absolute bullshit title fights they're making, are taking a lot away from what a champion in the UFC meant not too long ago. I understand they want to cash in on their popularity, and it's probably the smart thing to do, but as a fan of the sport I feel a little alienated by all this crap.

I really do wonder though, if making a title fight just automatically creates PPV buys?

Like does adding "for the Interim-Featherweight Championship" to the title of the event really make much difference to the consumer of the PPV or the ticket? Like if Max and Anthony fought anyway, would it still do the numbers/sales, or does a fake championship tag make all that much difference?

I think they're creating more of an issue of these situations than what is required.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

Amen Brother.

My long time signature and biggest beef with MMA is my desire to have the established solution in older combat sports to this dilemma not utilized in MMA/ the UFC!

ABSOLUTE "Mandatory title defense time frame vs. the #1 ranked contender" coupled with a ranking system with sufficient quantity of empirical data to make it unbiased" is the obvious answer.

Please keep in mind that Zuffa and Dana banked a fortune NOT allowing this absolute policy to limit their control over who wears the belts.

We may not have the UFC if the UFC had ZERO option other that to strip fighters that built a massive fan base of their belts!

Without it, a Mir can be officially stripped of his belt in a short period of time, and you GSP's, Cruz's, Aldo's and Velasquez's granted FAR more time holding up the WC!

Couldn't agree with you more, and it's the typical nature of a sport which isn't really endorsed or regulated by governing bodies like the WBA, WBO etc.

Unfortunately, they can just make up their own damn rules and just pick and choose when it's okay.

One rule for one, one rule for another - hence why I love when the plan goes tits up and someone like Eddie Alvarez ends up champion, because they clearly didn't want that in the long-term plan.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

If it get's fighter more pay and guaranteed title shots then I'm all for it.
What difference does it make to you as a fan? Doesn't effect how they fight in a negative way. In fact, fighting for an interim might actually increase the action.

Affects me because divisions get held up.

Jose Aldo is not able to compete at his own weight division because of ridiculous politics of an interim belt. Why can't I see the Featherweight champ fight at Featherweight? Firstly you have Conor going on a victory parade of 12 months, holding that belt close and not giving Jose a rematch, or Frankie a shot - now we have Jose, who wants to defend, but is over a barrel waiting for Max and is now being forced into competing at the division above him.

That is BS.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

This is all Conor's fault

Or Dana's for allowing Conor to ruin two divisions

But I disagree, the two divisions will rebuild themselves in a year or so. It'll all be fine, and this won't matter. A similar chaotic period happened at one point at HW, and no one even remembers it

I'm by no means saying that the divisions are dead in the water, but the fact I'm having to wait "a year or so" to have 2 great divisions back on track, is total crap.

You're right about it being a UFC/Conor thing, they created this monster and they are not stopping any time soon.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

To say you feel alienated is to say it is something they are doing to you rather than something they are doing for the fighters. Interim belts come into play when a champ is not defending the belt for a long period of time. Conor didn't defend the FW belt for a year and will not be be defending the LW belt for an undetermined amount of time. Would you rather go a year or more with no title fights at all?

I understand your premise, and I actually agree somewhat.

Unfortunately though, I cannot agree with having to watch fake title fights to quench my thirst of title fights. I think the whole "I'm taking time off" thing is total crap. In no other job in the world do you just take time off, especially when you're the highest performer - the business you work for needs your output.

Normal regular dudes get 2 weeks off for fatherhood, this guy is banging on about taking more time off. He's been recently questioned on it and he's all defensive now claiming he'll be back early 2017, well let's see you fight Khabib or Ferguson then, because any other fight is total BS at this stage.

 

[Aforo88]

I love interim belts! I think every weight class should have one that represents the nr 1 contender. UFC would have double the amount of belts to promote and the nr 1 contender would always be written in stone.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

I love interim belts! I think every weight class should have one that represents the nr 1 contender. UFC would have double the amount of belts to promote and the nr 1 contender would always be written in stone.

What happens when the interim champ gets an injury and is out for 8 months then?

You start stripping interim champs now? or do you just go to the next man in line?

Because if the "next man in line" wins against the actual champion, you then have an interim champion who is just on the sidelines holding his get out of jail free card or a title shot.

Weird scenario, which I don't like much.

 

[thechoice2]

They can strip Max if they want. Aldo winning the LW title with zero previous fights at LW is different than Conor winning the LW title with zero previous fights at LW, how?

 

[skysolo]

TS was beating off at how smart he think he sounds. In actuality, the OP is a mess. A long, entitled, self-delusional mess.

 

[Aforo88]

What happens when the interim champ gets an injury and is out for 8 months then?

You start stripping interim champs now? or do you just go to the next man in line?

Because if the "next man in line" wins against the actual champion, you then have an interim champion who is just on the sidelines holding his get out of jail free card or a title shot.

Weird scenario, which I don't like much.

First off. Im the kind of fan that doesn't care that much about the rigid sporting system that many hardcores are clambering for. At the end of the day its all about fights between the top fighters in the world. I dont care if UFC makes up their own rules to promote to the casuals as long as the best is fighting each other. For all I care UFC can headline PPVs with the biggest draws and the worlds best fighters can Co main.
To you're point, a get out of jail free card seems OK to me. UFC is good at improvising and making up rules on the fly so Im sure they apply the logic that is suitable or them at that given moment to keep the divisions moving.

 

[Fedorer13]

Dana is an outlaw.