Hunt versus Werdum for the Interim UFC HW Title

Cain tore his knee up and has been replaced on the November 15th card in Mexico City by Mark Hunt.

I would have liked Hunt's chances if it wasn't a short notice fight. But you can bet he's ballooned up to 300+ since the win over Roy Nelson.

 

Ya i just read yesterday he was at 302. It would be awesome if Hunt pulls it off

 

Interim titles are bullshit. If you can't defend your title in a calendar year, you should be stripped of the title.


TFK

 

Also, Werdum is a bitch. Considering the way he fought Overeem, I'm expecting him to flop to his back as soon as the opening bell rings, hoping Hunt follows him there.


TFK

 

:bears:

 

Interim titles are fine. They keep things moving along. You want to take the title from a guy who fights 13 months after he won the title? Yeah, right.

This has been a very shitty year for the UFC.

 

Interim titles are not fine. They're bullshit, imaginary titles whose only purpose is to sell more PPV's by falsely labeling it's main event as a title fight.

And yes, if a fighter can't defend his title in a calendar year, he should be stripped. Obviously there would be exceptions, like if the champ's opponent pulls out of a fight at the last second, forcing the fight to be cancelled. Bullshit like what happened with Dominic Cruz is bad for the sport. If the champ is stripped, he can get the first shot when he comes back healthy, but keeping a title hostage is crap.

TFK

 

I tend to agree with stripping a champion if they can't fight for a certain period of time. I'm not sure I agree with that period being 1 year but I agree with the concept.

I also think if a champion misses 2 consecutively scheduled fights due to injury, they should be stripped.

As TFK said, the prime example is Dominick Cruz. There was absolutely nothing beneficial to fans or other fighters by not stripping him earlier. Cruz was champion and not fighting for about 2 1/2 years. That's moronic.

 

Sure, and that's when an interim champion is automatically elevated to the status of a full champion because he has already fulfilled the requirements of winning a vacant belt...which is exactly what interim champions did during the 'interim' time period the champion could not fight. If the champion is able to fight, generally the interim champ should be who he fights. If the champion is unable to fight, the interim champ is elevated and things move forward.

 

Or you could just do the logical thing and strip the champ of the title and let the two fighters fight for the real title and not some pretend, imaginary one.


TFK

 

Except that leaves you with arbitrary and unfair results if it is subjective and ridiculous results if the criteria remain objective.

All you (or anyone) needs to do is spell out your ideal way to strip champions and let everyone else pick it apart. It's really not difficult. On the other hand, the interim way to do it is much more difficult to pick apart as the criticisms above demonstrate.

 

Again, if a champion can not defend the title in a set period of time, 1 year being ideal, he is stripped of the title. Of course, there are obvious, but few exceptions. If the challenger pulls out at the last minute and a replacement can't be found and the fight is cancelled, clearly the champ wouldn't be stripped. But otherwise, if the champ can't defend in that defined time period, he is stripped.

The two fighters would then be fighting for the real title, and not some phony, pretend, interim title that nobody recognizes anyway.

TFK

 

They're scheduling Velazquez / Werdum for next June. Cain will have gone almost 2 years without a fight. They need to just give the real belt to Werdum. He's in his prime years as a fighter. He has time to fight another top contender before June. Give Cain a title shot again when and if he comes back.