Back in January 2012, Jose Aldo defended his featherweight title against Chad Mendes.
He beat him with a first round knockout, business as usual. But that… that was Aldo’s lot for the year.
The Brazilian never reared his head again in 2012. He never put his belt on the line again. He’d wait another 13 months in fact before he bothered to defend it when Frankie Edgar got a shot in February 2013.
There wasn’t a mention of an interim title back then. There wasn’t a whisper of it.
Funnily enough though, 11 months after Conor McGregor took 13 seconds to destroy Aldo’s vice-like grip on the featherweight belt, the UFC promote a new champion because the Irish man hasn’t defended his belt. Two weeks after that, the UFC create another champion – an interim champion.
Not even a year had passed since McGregor became featherweight champ and Dana White somehow managed to slot in not just a new title holder, but an interim one as well – when the actual holder of the belt hadn’t even fought to defend it.
But it’s okay because the Dubliner moved on to lightweight to prove he could conquer that division too.
And yet, not even two months had passed since McGregor beat Eddie Alvarez but the promotion decided to line up an interim title fight anyway.
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson for the interim LW title on March 4 at UFC 209!!! pic.twitter.com/oJwvlDl4eX
— danawhite (@danawhite) January 13, 2017
Dana White is handing out belts like they’re going out of fashion now and, as Darragh Murphy put it, the interim title fights ploy is getting out of hand.
“In 2016, there were more interim title fights (three) than took place in the previous three years combined – one in 2015, one in 2014 and none in 2013,” Murphy wrote.
“Last year we saw two interim title fights in the one division (featherweight) in spite of the fact that not even a year had passed since the champion at the time, Conor McGregor, had claimed the belt.”
And all it’s doing is disrespecting the man who has not only lifted the UFC to new, unimaginable platforms, but he’s bent over backwards to make life easy for them.
When Jose Aldo pulled out, McGregor said f**k it, and he fought Mendes.
When Rafael dos Anjos pulled out, McGregor said f**k it, and he fought Diaz.
He has put his reputation on the line time and again to give fight fans a show. He went and made history, won two bloody belts, and he’s rewarded by having one of them stripped and another one about to be shared within two months of shaking the world.
The irony continues though because it’s happening around the same time that the UFC president is using McGregor’s name and reputation to try and cut a deal for what would be the biggest superfight of all time, with Floyd Mayweather.
https://twitter.com/ZPGIFs/status/819992530620215296
But if you can rely on anyone to call it as they see it, you can rely on Ben Rothwell.
The UFC heavyweight has brilliantly poked fun at Dana White for his apparent obsession with these interim belts and he says he won’t be tuning into a potential McGregor-Mayweather bout unless there’s something shiny at stake.
“There must be an interim title at stake between McGregor and Mayweather,” Big Ben said. “Otherwise I just don’t find it interesting enough.”
Dear @danawhite, there must be an interim title at stake between McGregor&Mayweather,otherwise I just don't find it interesting enough.Thanx
— Big Ben Rothwell (@RothwellFighter) January 13, 2017
Sure even if McGregor won it, they’d somehow find a way to create a superfight interim belt. Or an interim interim belt.
