John Morgan of MMAJunkie writes that Lyoto Machida would like to fight Rashad Evans for an interim light heavyweight title in lieu of the knee injury that has sidelined champion Mauricio Rua until March.
“Honestly, we’d like to fight ‘Shogun,'” Machida’s manager, Ed Soares, today told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “Now it’s 1-1. It’s even. Let’s do this rubber match. Let’s figure this out. Granted, he won by decision and Lyoto won decisively, but anyone can get caught in this sport. He went in for the kill, and unfortunately, he got caught.
“Since ‘Shogun’ is out – they’re saying until March – personally, when there’s an injured champion, I would love to see maybe a Rashad-Lyoto match for the interim title. I think that would be something that would be cool, and the winner of that would get to fight ‘Shogun’ when he’s all healed up in the spring of next year.”
The move certainly wouldn’t be without precedent. The UFC recently instituted a similar program when the future of heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was uncertain. While Rua’s injured knee is reportedly healing quickly, the Brazilian’s history of issues with the joint does leave a small cause for concern.
Payout Perspective:
The use of an interim belt should be reserved for the utmost rare of circumstances in which the indefinite or prolonged injury of a champion threatens to put a division on hold for 12+ months. It’s an emergency tool and a compromise; one meant to keep the division going, but respect the previous achievements of the existing champion. An interim belt should not be used every time a champion gets hurt and misses one fight.
Mauricio Rua will return in March. He’s the champion. There’s no need for an interim belt.
In most cases, with the exception of their proper use, interim belts only serve to create confusion amongst the fan base and devalue the standing of the actual championship. The belt is put up for grabs so many different times and between so many different contenders that it loses its meaning and significance. Look no further than the recent turmoil within the heavyweight division (edited):
- UFC 81: Tim Sylvia fights Antonio Nogueira for the interim belt during Randy’s dispute
- UFC 91: Randy Couture returns to defend his belt against Brock Lesnar.
- UFC 92: Antonio Nogeuira and Frank Mir fight for the interim belt.
- UFC 100: Brock Lesnar defeats Frank Mir in a unification match.
- UFC 111: Shane Carwin defeats Frank Mir for the interim belt.
- UFC 116: Brock Lesnar defeats Shane Carwin in a unification bout.
Was all that really necessary?
The use of the interim title during the Couture contract dispute was warranted, but in the case of Lesnar’s absence, he was sick by late October and recovering by the middle of December. There wasn’t really a need for an interim title match in March (a fight that would have sold just fine as a contenders bout instead of a interim title bout).
The UFC doesn’t need any more of these interim title bouts. All they do is create confusion and devalue the championship as a whole.
Ed Soares is misquoted here: “Honestly, we’d like to fight ‘Shogun,’” Machida’s manager, Ed Soares, today told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “Now it’s 1-1. It’s even. Let’s do this rubber match. Let’s figure this out. Granted, he won by decision and Lyoto won decisively…” In teh actual article (http://mmajunkie.com/news/19837/ufcs-lyoto-machida-primed-for-return-camp-calls-for-interim-shot-with-rashad-evans.mma) Soares is quoted correctly as saying “Shogun won decisively.”
Kelsey I agree with you 100%. It’s nice to see this argument in writing, as I’ve been making it verbally for a year. Interim belts are completely unnecessary except for the situation you described above, where the champion is sidelined for an indefinite amount of time that is expected to be more than 12 months. The only time I have seen an interim belt successfully used in MMA is when Frank Mir was injured in a motorcycle accident and Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia fought for the interim heavyweight championship. Mir was out for an indefinite amount of time, which ended up running from June 19, 2004 to Feb. 4, 2006, or 19 consecutive months. In that case, the UFC heavyweight division had to move on, so the interim belt was justly and prudently elevated to the status of the undisputed world championship.
It is ridiculous that the UFC has had all of these interim title belts when the date of the champion’s return is a foregone conclusion, as you said above: Nogueira and Mir fought for the interim belt even after the “undisputed” belt had been contested 6 weeks earlier. The UFC shouldn’t undermine the legitimacy of their championship belts by creating novelty ones just so they can have more “title fights” to sell. It’s a cheap and gimmicky tactic that should disappear as the organization seeks to slowly climb into mainstream sports.
I think another point is that you don’t keep the LHW picture on hold. Belt or not, would you also keep Rashad on the shelf until the projected return of Shogun? It’s not that anyone clamors for an interim belt but the opportunity to be the first one to fight for the belt, if and when the belt holder returns. And if Rashad wants the fight, who is to argue?
I give the UFC a free pass on Brock since there was question of him ever fighting again. But with a known time of return set for March there is no reason for a Interim title. The fact that a interim title sets up Machida vs Evans is more reason not to. More than likely that would just force a 3rd fight with Shogun/Machida. Then what happens if Machida loses again? In most eyes he would be 0-3 and turned into the Rich Franklin of 205 where he can never fight for the belt again. Then you ruin Evans and have noone to fight Shogun. Stupid idea.
“The UFC doesn’t need any more of these interim title bouts. All they do is create confusion and devalue the championship as a whole.”
Could not disagree more with you on about this, interim titles have a long history in the UFC and are the perfect way to deal with champions who are injured and allows top contenders to fight in the meantime. They also don’t devalue or confuse anyone or anything, the UFC is very smart the way they operate and promote fights and champions. Plus at the end a unification bout just adds to the luster of a big high profile fight between the top 2 guys in one division.
Rashad has earned his shot at the title, Shogun is hurt it makes perfect sense to have an interim LHW title fight just not with Machida who’s in no position for a title shot after basically losing his last 2 fights at LHW.
Your facts are incomplete. Nog fought Tim Sylvia to become the Interim Champ. His fight against Mir was his first defense of the title and made sense as a TUF coach vs. coach fight. When it was scheduled there was no end to the Couture dispute in sight. I agree that a LHW Interim title isn’t necessary under the circumstances, but the use of Interim belts in the HW division has been sensible in all cases.
Karl,
You’re right. Good catch. I’d forgotten that Sylva-Nog was made an interim. In that case the UFC acted properly. However, I’m not sure you can argue that it didn’t jump the gun on the Carwin-Mir announcement.
The point still stands that the interim belt should be used sparingly – not every time someone gets hurt for 5 months.
KP