Last night (April 13, 2019) at UFC 236, two new interim champions were crowned in the top two bouts of the event. In the main event, Dustin Poirier overpowered Max Holloway in a five-round war (highlights), while highly decorated kickboxer Israel Adesanya captured the first major belt of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career in perhaps the best fight of the year just minutes prior (highlights).
UFC 236 was a strong card bolstered by this pair of title fights, which featured four tremendously talented athletes vying for gold. In the eyes of some, however, the titles won hold little value, as the official champions of Lightweight and Middleweight were absent from the cage.
That isn’t right.
I am definitely not arguing in favor of UFC continuing to make interim title bouts at the slightest delay, but the men who strive and bleed for these belts deserve to be known as champions. Whether or not you believe an interim roost-ruler is a genuine champion really comes down to a single question: does a fighter have to be the best in the world to be UFC champion?
The immediate instinct, one the UFC itself has hammered into fans for a decade with slogans like, “Baddest Man on the Planet!,” is to answer in the affirmative. It does not, however, require a great deal of thought to provide examples that contrast the concept.
Men like Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Jose Aldo are incredibly rare. Decade-long champions who can legitimately dispatch all 10 top-ranked contenders in their divisions with great consistency are not known simply as champion; they’re the best fighters of all time. When discussing champions in a top-notch organization like UFC, we’re already talking about a tremendously small portion of the world’s fighters who capture the belt. That number shrinks tremendously when asking if the champion can also beat every single current contender.
Much more commonly, the champion has a weakness of some kind. He or she is not the perfect fighter, able to force all foes into their preferred range and game plan. Even when talking about a belt-holder with a couple title defenses on their record, there’s usually someone in the nearby rankings who would potentially be a terrible style match up.
Beyond stylistic match ups, there’s also a great deal of luck involved in just about every title reign.
As an example, let’s discuss Tyron Woodley’s title reign. “T-Wood” managed to receive a title shot after waiting for over a year on the sidelines — it’s miraculous already that UFC honored their promise and did not skip over him. Woodley made the most of his opportunity, earning the status of champion with a blistering right hand knockout of Robbie Lawler in the first round.
Woodley moved forward and defended his title three times, which is seriously impressive work! However, is it definitely true that Woodley was the best in the world throughout that entire reign? There are some arguments against the former Welterweight king. For one, Woodley easily could’ve lost the second decision to Stephen Thompson. Perhaps more damningly, Rory MacDonald handily defeated Woodley just a couple years prior to Woodley winning the belt, but the Canadian disappeared to Bellator before Woodley earned a chance to prove himself the better man in a rematch.
Last month, Kamaru Usman dominated Woodley from bell-to-bell, proving a terrible style match up for the veteran. Who knows just how long Usman has been capable of beating Woodley?
None of this is intended to disparage Woodley. Far from it, as Woodley capitalized on decades of hard work and great luck to fight like hell and capture the belt. It’s admirable, and Woodley more than earned the right to be called champion. It can also be true that evidence exists showing there were better Welterweights the entire time, and this is a man with multiple title defenses!
There are more dramatic (if less recent) examples of defeatable champions. The best run of Chuck Liddell’s entire career — all the knockouts that made him a legend — were sandwiched between brutal losses to Quentin Jackson. Michael Bisping won via an incredible knockout against Luke Rockhold to win his title, but did anyone like his chances opposite Yoel Romero? Nurmagomedov defeated Raphael dos Anjos prior to the Brazilian’s title run, but “RDA” was still able to capture and defend the title before the Dagestani finally made his way into a championship fight.
Liddell, Bisping, and dos Anjos are all fantastic fighters who were in the right place at the right time. That’s what it takes to be champion.
What really separates them from an interim champion then? It’s true that Israel Adesanya did not defeat Robert Whittaker to win the belt, but “Stylebender” did prove himself a remarkably talented fighter, and he was in the right situation to capitalize upon his talents.
That’s what makes a champion.
Fighting is not a fair sport. There is a great deal outside of a fighter’s control that determines the course of a career. Inept judges, questionable refereeing, biased matchmaking, and uncontrollable injuries can all prevent great fighters from ascending to championship status even if their skill seems to guarantee a title at some point.
Perhaps the ultimate example is Gray Maynard. Most referees would’ve stopped his rematch and rubber match with Frankie Edgar and awarded him the title via first-round knockout. Many judges would’ve awarded him the decision win at the end of the second contest. Instead, Maynard — who at his best was one of the best wrestlers to ever compete inside the Octagon — came up just short, despite doing so much right, due to circumstances beyond his control. “The Bully” received no belt for his efforts.
The central point here is to award credit where it’s due rather than attack credibility.
There are now seven interim champions who have never been awarded an undisputed title: Israel Adesanya, Dustin Poirier, Colby Covington, Carlos Condit, Tony Ferguson, Shane Carwin, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Adesanya, Poirier, and Covington will have an opportunity to unite the titles sooner than later and are still fairly early in their careers, so let’s move past them for now.
Carlos Condit is the definitive “Natural Born Killer,” one of the most consistent finishers in the sport and former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) kingpin who just happened to fight at the same time as Georges St. Pierre. Tony Ferguson is currently on one of the best win streaks in history — he might be the most entertaining and talented fighter of the bunch. All the same, injuries, mental health problems, and plain bad luck may prevent him from ever getting a chance at Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“Big Nog” is an all-time Heavyweight great and former Pride FC champion, is he not worthy of being known as the only Heavyweight to hold titles in both the UFC and PRIDE FC due to an asterisk? Carwin probably has the weakest argument of the bunch, and the man was a terrifying force of nature whose punches melted people! Oh, and a different referee may have seen Carwin stop Brock Lesnar in the first as well.
Every athlete mentioned in this article deserves a ton of respect for their accomplishments in an unforgiving sport. It should not matter if the word “interim” appears beside the title announcement: the man holding the belt deserves your respect and will be remembered as a champion.
How can anyone deny Israel Adesanya after last night’s instant classic? Who can watch Poirier’s blood-and-guts battle with the Featherweight champion and say he is not worthy?
For complete UFC 236 results and coverage click here.