(Don’t fart…don’t fart…don’t fart…don’t fart…)
Well here’s a bit of good news for once.
If you’re like us, you’re probably sick to death of watching interim champions all but refuse to defend their titles while the actual champions remain on the shelf. So when Renan Barao’s camp announced that he would be taking the Carlos Condit approach to the interim title, we here at the CP offices let out a collective groan before pouring another round of Johnnie Walker Blue Label on the rocks — also known as our HR department — and prepared for a long winter of semi-meaningful-but-not-really bantamweight fights. Thankfully, Dana White is a Johnnie Walker man, and after he smashed a bottle of it over Danga’s head, we managed to come to an agreement regarding the UFC’s last remaining interim champ.
White recently told MMAWeekly that Barao will likely be defending his belt before champion Dominick Cruz is back in action, and his potential opponent should come as a surprise to no one:
We were talking about Barão defending his title now,” revealed White. “Whether he wants to wait or not, we’re going to go back to him probably soon here and have him defend it.”
Although nothing is on the books just yet, White indicated that the likely challenger to Barão’s interim belt would be Michael McDonald.
We haven’t seen McDonald since he knocked Miguel Torres right out of the UFC at 145, but the kid has been on an absolute killing spree since entering the UFC — picking up four straight victories and two end of the night bonuses in just over a year — so it makes all kinds of sense to have him and Barao square off to see who the true top dog of the division is.
We will keep you informed as details are made available, but in the mean time, who do you like for this potential showdown, Potato Nation?