Written By: Joy Gustavson @JoyGNY on Twitter
The UFC, and many other fight organizations will introduce an Interim Title in a weight division where the division champion is unable defend his or her title within an extended amount of time. When the champion is able to return to defend his or her title, the champion must fight against the Interim Champion, where the outcome unifies the titles and a singular champion is crowned. In theory, an Interim title keeps a weight class moving forward, even when the champion is out of action for an extended period due to to circumstances beyond his or her control, such as an injury. Throughout the UFC’s history, champions such as Frank Mir and George St. Pierre had lengthy lay ups due to injuries and Interim titles were created while they were out of competition. Both Mir and St. Pierre were dominant champions in their weight classes when they needed extended time away, but both champions didn’t want to relinquish the title. Out of respect to their champions, the UFC allowed both fighters to keep the championship titles and dually, out of respect for their fighters, allowed the weight classes in question to continue to fight for a title.
Recently, the UFC has been abusing the Interim Title stipulations in order to cater to their company’s need for big Pay Per View cards and big fights. The problem here is that the UFC is willing to circumnavigate unclear guidelines for the implementation of the Interim Title at will due to their complete control of promotion and matchmaking. It seems lately that Interim titles are used to punish champions and save Pay Per View cards. UFC 189 and UFC 197’s headliners involve Interim Titles for reasoning that is completely counter-intuitive.
UFC 189 Conor McGregor vs Chad Mendes for the Interim Featherweight Title. July 11, 2015
Jose Aldo versus Conor MgGregor was the most hyped Featherweight fight in UFC history and it was supposed to go down at UFC 189. Jose Aldo pulled out of the fight due to injury with a fractured rib. This injury left Jose Aldo laid up for a few months and the UFC completely hanging. Aldo pulled out of the fight with very limited time for someone to step in and fight McGregor. At this point, the UFC decided to implement the Interim Title for this headlining bout at UFC 189. The UFC asked Chad Mendes to step in as the last minute replacement to be the sacrificial lamb, or as the UFC called it, opponent to face Conor McGregor. Keep in mind; Mendes had no time to actually prepare for the fight.
Immediately after Dana White announced that Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes were fighting for the Interim Title at UFC 189, he listed all the reasons why the UFC decided to promote the McGregor vs Mendes fight as an Interim Title bout. When your company’s president needs to immediately defend an executive decision that usually means it’s a controversial decision. Jose Aldo was only laid up for a few months, so having an Interim Belt only for the titles to unite the next time a title defense happened in the weight division is completely stupid and useless. Jose Aldo has a history of pulling out of fights, so, they implemented the Interim Belt as a punishment to Aldo for needing to pull out of his fights so frequently. That just seemed like a low blow to Jose Aldo and Dana White shouldn’t have listed this as one of the reasons for the toy belt. By Dana White citing his Featherweight champion as pulling out of too many fights to be a reason to create an Interim Belt, he not only discredited the champion, he also questioned the legitimacy of the champion and thus discredited the title in the respected division. The only quasi legitimate reason for an Interim Title that makes sense, that the UFC didn’t even mention, would be that the Co-Main event was a title bout and in a higher weight division, so they needed some form of title to be on the line for the headliner out of respect for and to uphold the integrity of their Titles. In reality, the UFC wanted to save their Pay Per View Card and maintain the momentum of their number one priority, Conor McGregor. The UFC shouldn’t be handing out Interim Belts when the champion is out for only a few months, and furthermore, the title should not be thrown into a bout last minute when a replacement fighter doesn’t have a reasonable amount of time to prepare. There was absolutely no reason for an Interim Title for this fight.
UFC 197 Jon Jones vs Ovince St. Preux for the Interim Light Heavyweight Title, April 23, 2016
The long awaited rematch between Challenger, Jon Jones and Champion, Daniel Cormier scheduled for April 23, headlined the UFC 197 card. Daniel Cormier had to pull out of the match due to an injured lower leg. Cormier and the UFC went official with this news the beginning of April. Daniel Cormier stated he would be back soon, nothing unreasonable here. The UFC then announced that Ovince St. Preux was stepping in to fight Jon Jones for the Interim Light Heavyweight Title.
What is the reason for the need for an Interim Title for this match? One can only speculate. Daniel Cormier will be defending his title again in the near future, and as it looks now, the first Interim Title defense will be against Daniel Cormier, so why is an Interim Title necessary? Again, there is no reason for creating an Interim Title other than to sell this match as a headliner and to sell the card overall. The UFC can create an Interim Title for these selfish reasons because they are also the matchmakers and fight promoters; they make all the rules. St. Preux will not have a full training camp to prepare for this fight and this puts St. Preux in a similar situation to that of Chad Mendes at UFC 189; handed a stab at gold by the blade.
Interim Titles in this capacity are bullshit. The UFC needs to stop using them as plugs to fill the holes created by injuries of champions in the sinking ship of their Pay Per View Cards. The UFC should never belittle their Champions nor their Titles. The UFC needs to hold their Titles and Champions in the highest of regards in order to uphold the integrity of each. Interim Titles need only be used when the Champion is unable to defend the title within a year. If the UFC continues to use Interim Titles in the fashion of UFC 189 and UFC 197 it will only degrade their product. UFC, respect your fighters and your titles and do away with these very ambiguous Interim Title stipulations.
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