With several champions injured over the past year, and the cancellation of several major events under the Zuffa umbrella, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is certainly looking towards it’s healthy title holders to carry the torch for the remainder of the year, including its interim champions.
UFC interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit opted to sit out the year in order to wait for division champ Georges St-Pierre, putting the 170-lbs division on hold till their upcoming UFC 154 bout next month.
Now the promotions other interim title holder, Renan Barão (29-1, 1NC) is looking to follow suit, as the Brazilian appears willing to for champ Dominick Cruz to return from a torn ACL suffered earlier this year.
Barão’s coach Andre Pederneiras told UOL (via BloodyElbow.com) that his fighter will wait to unify the 135-lbs title rather than face another opponent.
“He just won the title, just fought. We will wait. Look how long the wait was for Condit and GSP to unify the belt?”
This of course puts the entire bantamweight division on hold, with fans possibly waiting six-to-nine months longer for Cruz to return to 100%.
At a time when the UFC needs all of it’s healthy stars to step up, having Barão sit on the interim belt will not push a division lacking in drawing power into the limelight. Outside of Cruz and Urijah Faber, the division has few recognizable personalities that anyone not a hardcore fan would be hard pressed to know. Unless the likes of young fighters like Mike Easton can step up and put the division on the map, while Barão and Cruz sit out for the next year, things don’t look great for the 135-lbs division.