The King of Second Place
A full review of all the UFC interim titles so far and the full context of their existence.
1. PRELUDE
The interim championship is an alternate title awarded in combat sports due to various circumstances. A central theme to their creation is that the champion is unable to defend the title in a timely manner. Unofficially, this ‘timely manner’ translates to an expected two title fights each calendar year per division. This is the case for the majority of calendar years in a given weight class. If a calendar year has 1 or 3 title fights, then it’s likely that the average over an adjacent year is still 2 fights per year. For example, the men’s 135lb division had 3-1-3-1 title fights for the 2014-15-16-17 calendar years, averaging to 2 title fights per year for 4 years.
Without even looking too deeply, the interim title’s basic purpose should already be apparent based on this 2 title fights/year schedule. This is all of course a superficial look into the topic and there’s no way to distinguish a meaningful fight from a vanity project. A deeper dive into their purpose is required.
2. WHY THEY EXIST
An interim title allows the UFC to maintain its schedule of 2 title fights per year, but it also facilitates other necessities that aren’t just superficial. Contrary to objections from MMA fans, the interim title holds significant purpose in poor circumstances and their creation is usually justified.
The first purpose is that it provides insurance for the UFC in the catastrophic event that the champion will never be able to defend again and must vacate the belt. Instead of waiting for this worst-case scenario and booking a fight for the vacant belt afterwards, anticipate it by holding an interim title fight and promote the winner to the rank of undisputed after the champion is stripped of the belt.
It also gives motivation for the top competitors to continue competing while the champion sits at the sidelines. Unlike a 5 round non-title main event, the interim champion does get PPV points (at least to my knowledge), leading to a greater payday. In the case of a temporarily absent champion, there would be less incentive to risk taking a fight against another top opponent if it wasn’t for the interim title.
By giving the interim title meaningful weigh that isn’t just an official ranking, fighters are able to separate themselves apart from the rest of division by facing another top contender rather than rank squatting or taking a low-risk fight that doesn’t greatly further their title aspirations. It’s also manifested by an unofficial stipulation: the interim title winner is the mandatory challenger for the next champion’s title fight. This only summarizes one half of the topic.
3. THE ARGUMENT AGAINST
Like many MMA topics, there’s an alternate side of the argument. The interim title is seen by many fans as meaningless and their existence comes under scrutiny for various reasons. Establishing a neutral viewpoint for the topic isn’t easy but the 3 main objections are listed below:
The interim belt is superficial or fake: unlike the lineal belt that sees the nature cycle of title reigns, title defenses and the changing of the champion, the interim belt largely feels out of place in what is a normally authentic cycle for combat sports.
It devalues the undisputed champion: By creating an interim belt, fans could potentially see the interim champion as being more legitimate than the sitting champion.
Many interim winners don’t respect the belt: Many interim champions like Justin Gaethje and Carlos Condit have openly expressed their apathy to winning the interim title belts.
With the purpose of the interim championship and its common objectives established, here’s an insight into all 24 UFC interim titles. They can be categorized into 6 groups:
Injury
Legal Troubles
Lack of Commitment
Personal Spite from Matchmakers
Refusal to defend the belt
Other (Partially unknown)
Some interim titles fall into more than one category. For example, the 2024 HW belt that is to be defended at UFC 304 was created in November 2023 due to the champion’s injury but is being maintained because that same champion refuses to defend the belt against the interim champion.
3.1 INJURY
The most common reason for making an interim title is a major injury that forces the champion from fighting for an extended period of time – usually a length exceeding 12 months since their most recent outing. In almost every instance, the champion was scheduled to defend the title but was forced out of that fight due to injury. Instead of waiting for the champion to recover, give the division’s top fighters motivation to continue climbing towards the apex.
2005 Mir: 3 months after winning the heavyweight title, Frank Mir survived a catastrophic motorcycle accident that fractured his femur and tore all ligaments in his knee. Almost 5 months later, an interim title fight is scheduled between Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. This interim title would also be defended against Justin Eilers. Arlovski would eventually be promoted to undisputed champ due to Mir being unable to unify the belt against Arlovski for a planned October 2005 fight.
2007 Serra: Season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter was meant to conclude with coaches Matt Serra and Matt Hughes fighting for the 170lb championship for December 2007. The champion Serra would suffer a herniated disc on his back leading the UFC to establish an interim title fight. The contenders would be Georges St-Pierre and Hughes with the winner guaranteed a title shot once the champion is available. This fight took place during the same event for the originally intended Serra vs Hughes title fight with GSP emerging as the winner.
2010 Lesnar: Originally scheduled to defend his title against Shane Carwin during November 2009, the heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar would fall very ill and would require an extended period of time and surgery to recover. An interim title between Carwin and Mir would take place on March 2010 with Carwin winning and earning his title shot against the champion Lesnar for July 2010.
2012 GSP: GSP was expected to defend his 170lb title against Nick Diaz during October 2011. After Diaz no-showed media day, the UFC promoted Carlos Condit from his original fight against BJ Penn to replace Diaz. Just 11 days before the fight, GSP would suffer an ACL tear and would be out of his fight against Condit. With the surgery and recovery pushing GSP’s return to late 2012 and rumors of the champion intending to retire soon, the UFC set up an interim title fight between Diaz and Condit for an interim belt for February 2012.
2012 Cruz: TUF Live coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber were meant to fight a rubber match for the 135lb championship during July 2012. While training in May, Cruz suffers a torn ACL and is in need of surgery. The interim title was between Faber and Renan Barao for July 2012. Cruz’s rehabilitation would take extensive time while interim champion Renan Barao defended the interim belt on two occasions during 2013. A unification bout was set for February 2014 but Cruz suffers a groin injury and is ultimately forced to vacate while Barao is promoted to undisputed champion. Of all the interim titles created, this and the 2005 heavyweight are cited as the most justified. The UFC gave the champions every chance to recover from their injuries but neither were able to make the call.
2014 Velasquez: A heavyweight matchup between the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America was slated for November 2014 between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum. Just 4 weeks prior, the chronically injured Velasquez suffers a torn meniscus and sprained MCL and is replaced by Mark Hunt for an interim title fight.
2015 Aldo: The original headliner for International Fight Week of 2015 was Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor. The 145lb champion however pulled out 12 days before the fight due a rib injury. To save the headliner, an interim title was created and Chad Mendes threw the gauntlet against McGregor. Mendes would ultimately fall short and McGregor would become interim and undisputed champion in 2015.
2016 Cormier: The rematch between 205lb paper champion Daniel Cormier and 205lb former champion Jon Jones was originally slated for April 2016. Cormier would be unable to defend the title though due to suffering a foot injury 3 weeks prior. Looking to keep half the original headliner intact, an interim title was created for Jon Jones vs Ovince St-Preux with Jones emerging as the winner. He would eventually be stripped of the interim belt after testing positive for banned substances just 3 months afterwards.
2018 Whittaker: The first title defence for the 185lb champion Robert Whittaker was meant to be Luke Rockhold in Perth for February 2018. Just 1 month prior, an undisclosed injury forced the champion out and Yoel Romero was brought in. Romero would go on to miss weight, be ineligible to win the interim title, still win the fight, and be the next challenger for the title.
2019 Whittaker: Robert Whittaker has a long history of battling injuries and his title reign would result in another interim title fight. Originally meant to defend his belt against Kelvin Gastelum in the coaches fight for TUF 28, Whittaker is forced out of the fight just hours prior to the event due to emergency surgery to fix an abdominal hernia. An interim title fight between Israel Adesanya and Gastelum would be set for April 2019 leading to one of the best fights of the year.
2021 Sterling: The 135lb champion Aljamain Sterling is no stranger to neck injuries and is barred from competing in his home state by the NYSAC because of them. Due to suffering lingering effects from neck surgery, Sterling was forced to pull out one month prior to his rematch vs Petr Yan for October 2021. Cory Sandhagen would step in on a month’s notice in a fight of the year but would fall short to Yan. Sterling would eventually recover from his injuries in time to return in April 2022.
Looking through the 24 interim titles, 11 (or 12) of them fit into this category of champion injury. Of course, there’s much debate about the justification of setting up an interim title for the same date as the original title fight that fell through. Would it be better to set up an interim title for a later date so that nobody is stepping in on short notice? Is it better to set up an interim title fight or to wait for the champion to come back? Many questions like these persist even when an interim belt appears justifiable.
3.2 LEGAL TROUBLES
A UFC champion being unable to defend their belt due to legal reasons is virtually unheard of. Not only is it uncommon, but it would generally lead to them being stripped of the belt instead of being temporarily suspended as was the case for Jon Jones in his 2015 hit-and-run incident. There are 2 instances of the champion having legal trouble and both involve Khabib Nurmagomedov.
At UFC 229, Khabib exceeded his tolerance after beating Conor McGregor and ignited a brawl inside of the T-Mobile arena. His eventual punishment would be a 9-month suspension – the earliest he could compete would be 6 July 2019. Instead of having no 155lb title fight for the first half of 2019, the matchmakers decided to create one for UFC 236. The original matchup of choice was Max Holloway vs Tony Ferguson but the latter would opt out, allowing Dustin Poirier to fill in. This fight would go on to be one of the best in MMA history and the winner Dustin Poirier would be guaranteed a title shot against the champion.
Khabib didn’t do anything wrong in 2020, but he wasn’t allowed into the United States due to the Covid pandemic. This prevented him from defending his title at UFC 249 against Tony Ferguson. Having no foresight of when the pandemic would resolve, the UFC decided to bring in Justin Gaethje as a short notice replacement for the same event. This interim title fight would guarantee the next challenger for the undisputed belt and ensure that they would have a champion if Khabib cannot leave Russia.
3.3 CHAMPION REFUSING TO DEFEND
A much less common occurrence that leads to the creation of interim title fights is a champion refusing to defend their title. This has been the case for 4 interim titles – 2 of which can be designated as blatant cherry-picking.
In 2003, Tito Ortiz was required to defend his 205lb belt against Chuck Liddell. The champion cited a conflict in their schedule but the more accepted reason was that he didn’t want to fight his friend. This prompted the UFC to create their first ever interim title – Randy Couture vs Chuck Liddell. The winner, Randy Couture, would go on to beat Tito Ortiz and unify the title.
The second instance of the champion refusing to defend his belt is Randy Couture in 2008 when he was the heavyweight champion. In late 2007, Randy Couture made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the UFC anymore and wouldn’t fight anybody. The UFC wasn’t ready to let Couture go and set up an interim title fight between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria and Tim Sylvia in the case that they do have to strip the heavyweight champion of the belt.
Michael Bisping’s blatant cherry-picking as a champion spanned for two fights. In his first title fight, he convinced matchmakers to face a 46-year-old #13 ranked Dan Henderson. The second title fight of choice was Georges St-Pierre returning from a 4-year layoff. This would ultimately be postponed due to Bisping’s knee surgery in early 2017 and GSP’s continued complications of bulking up to the 185lb division. To continue moving the division forward, an interim title fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker took place in July 2017 with Whittaker emerging victorious. The original plan was Bisping vs Whittaker and Woodley vs GSP. This wouldn’t happen however as Whittaker would sit out the rest of the year due to a torn ACL sustained against Romero, allowing Bisping vs GSP to conclude in November 2017.
Another blatant cherry-pick that lead to an interim title fight is Jon Jones continuing to choose Miocic into 2024. Aspinall would normally be the next in line due to becoming interim champion in November 2023, but Miocic persists as the champion’s main option. Because Aspinall isn’t given his rightful opportunity, he must continue defending his interim title. His next opponent is Curtis Blaydes for July 2024.
3.4 COMMITMENT ELSEWHERE
In pursuit of greatness, the champion might leave their primary responsibility of defending the belt for even higher highs. This has been the case for 3 interim belts.
In 2016, Conor McGregor aimed to become the first simultaneous double champ – in the 145lb and 155lb category – in UFC history. His ambition would require an interim belt for the current 145lb he held in order to prevent the division from stagnating. Both Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar would have a serious case for challenging McGregor, but an interim title encouraged both to engage in the interim title fight. This interim title would prove to be justified as McGregor would never return to the division and would be forced to vacate the belt.
McGregor’s ambitions to transcend the sport and engage in a sanctioned boxing match against Floyd Mayweather mandated an interim belt in the 155lb division as well. With a champion who may never actually return, the UFC created an interim belt in 2017 in hopes of moving the division forward. The first attempt – Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson – fell apart in March 2017 while the second attempt – Tony Ferguson vs Kevin Lee – went through in October 2017. Like the 145lb interim belt of 2016, this belt would prove to be justified as McGregor would be stripped in April 2018 due to inactivity.
Like McGregor, Alex Volkanovski aimed for double champion status in early 2023. His unavailability for the first few months of 2023 led to the creation of an interim belt between Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett. Not only did it give the contenders something to fight for in the champion’s absence, it also allowed for a clear #1 contender to emerge from the division’s unusual and underwhelming state.
Up to this point, interim title fights with strong justifications have been covered. The next 5 interim titles are a source of great scrutiny for the practice.
3.5 SPITE FROM THE UFC
There are 2 instances of the UFC coming into great conflict with a sitting champion and will use an interim title shot as a means of leverage against them.
Tyron Woodley was the 170lb champion that the UFC didn’t really want, especially compared to the previous champion Robbie Lawler whom Woodley knocked out. Wonderboy Thompson, the two-time challenger to Woodley’s belt, was also seen as a more desirable fighter for champion status. Despite Woodley being an active champion and defending his belt 3 times in the span of 12 months, the UFC decided to hold an interim title between Rafael dos Anjos and Colby Covington for June 2018. This was only one month prior to Woodley’s anticipated return from back surgery, making it one of the most blatant attempts at devaluing one of their champions.
A second instance of this would happen in 2021. After Francis Ngannou became heavyweight champion in March, matchmakers booked an interim title fight between Ciryl Gane and Derrick Lewis just 4 months afterwards. The specifics of what lead to this isn’t fully known but popular opinion is that a contract dispute took place and the UFC’s punishment was create an interim title in order to gain leverage. Another speculation is that the UFC needed a headliner for the Houston PPV and an interim belt would suffice. Ngannou would eventually leave the UFC, citing excessive restrictions within the contract and inadequate pay.
3.6 MISCELLANEOUS
The last category of interim titles is miscellaneous by nature. Unlike the others previous mentioned, it’s difficult to fully justify or even understand why they were made in the first place.
The first is between Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2008. Normally, the interim champion is considered next in line for a title shot. This wasn’t the case when Big Nog defeated Tim Sylvia in early 2008 to earn a title shot against champion-in-exile Randy Couture. Instead, the WWE superstar Brock Lesnar was fast-tracked to the title fight with a 1-1 UFC record and would dethrone Randy Couture in November 2008. Just one month later, Mir would challenge Big Nog for the latter’s interim title. This fight was meant to be the coach’s fight for The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 and it’s possible that some prestige was needed to sell the value of the fight or the event.
Another miscellaneous interim title is Max Holloway vs Anthony Pettis at 145lbs. This fight was officially booked on the 26 Oct for December 2016. At the time of its initial announcement, it wasn’t an interim title fight because Aldo was the interim champion to McGregor. When the UFC 206 main event – a title fight for the 205lb belt – fell through, another title fight headliner was needed. The UFC would exercise their right to strip McGregor of his 145lb title due him already being champion at 155lbs and promote Jose Aldo to the status of undisputed. Holloway vs Pettis would become the 5-round headliner for the interim 145lb title in place of the original main event. This endeavour was borne out of the need for a new main event and did not involve the champion being unable to defend their belt in a timely manner.
Unlike other champion injuries, the 125lb champion’s injuries in 2022 did not cause any title fights to be cancelled. While awaiting the Deiveson Figueiredo to recover, the UFC set up an interim title fight between Brandon Moreno and Kai Kara-France for July 2022. This was despite Figeureido’s most recent fight being January and his slated return being October or November. All we have is speculation and the most common one is that the UFC was longing for a Mexican champion and would give Moreno as many chances against the champ. From December 2020 to January 2023, Figueiredo would face Moreno a total of 4 times.
4. ENDGAME OF SECOND PLACE
So, what happened to the 24 UFC interim title holders thus far? To put it briefly:
(2) Arlovski and Barao were promoted to undisputed champions after having to defend their interim belts
(2) Aldo and Whittaker were promoted to undisputed champions after the undisputed champion never returned to defend the belt
(1) Nogueira had to defend his belt but lost which resulted in another interim title holder
(8) Mir, Carwin, Gane, Condit, Poirier, Gaethje, Rodriguez, and Yan would lose the unification bout
(7) Werdum, Couture, Adesanya, GSP, McGregor, Holloway, and Moreno would win the unification bout
(3) Jones, Ferguson, and Covington would be stripped of the interim belt for positive drug tests, injury, and inactivity respectively
(1) Aspinall’s story is still being written and the next big chapter is happening at UFC 304
This has been a thorough summary of UFC interim title fights. The vast majority of them are justified in their creation while a handful of them reveal excessive tactics against champions who have gone against the grain of the UFC. Let me know what you think about interim titles. Are they justified? Are they superficial? Or maybe belts in general are superficial. Until next time…
