During a recent “UFC Embedded” video blog, we saw Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta meet with Jon Jones‘s manager in order to lock down a rematch between Jones and top light-heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson. That footage was filmed two weeks ago, and so far, no progress has been made on the fight. Jones’s camp has refused to sign for undisclosed reasons, which probably have to do with money, timing, or both. Luckily, Daniel Cormier has figured out a solution to this stalemate:
“I know this will probably be unpopular,” Cormier told Franklin McNeil of SportsWorldNews.com. “But if [Jones] won’t sign, whether it be for money or a lack of wanting to fight the kid, I’ll fight Alexander Gustafsson. But it should be for the interim title…If they’re putting a belt on the line, I don’t care what date it is. It was never about Jones, I just want the title. Besides, it’ll work out better for [Jones]; he won’t have to fight both of us.”
Keep in mind that Cormier’s knee is a giant question mark right now, which puts his interim title fight suggestion squarely into “just sayin’ stuff” territory. Plus, the UFC usually creates interim titles as a last resort — not a couple months after a healthy champion’s last defense. Furthermore, Cormier’s tongue-in-cheek line that Jones wouldn’t have to fight both DC and Gustafsson is probably the best reason why the UFC wouldn’t pursue this plan.
During a recent “UFC Embedded” video blog, we saw Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta meet with Jon Jones‘s manager in order to lock down a rematch between Jones and top light-heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson. That footage was filmed two weeks ago, and so far, no progress has been made on the fight. Jones’s camp has refused to sign for undisclosed reasons, which probably have to do with money, timing, or both. Luckily, Daniel Cormier has figured out a solution to this stalemate:
“I know this will probably be unpopular,” Cormier told Franklin McNeil of SportsWorldNews.com. “But if [Jones] won’t sign, whether it be for money or a lack of wanting to fight the kid, I’ll fight Alexander Gustafsson. But it should be for the interim title…If they’re putting a belt on the line, I don’t care what date it is. It was never about Jones, I just want the title. Besides, it’ll work out better for [Jones]; he won’t have to fight both of us.”
Keep in mind that Cormier’s knee is a giant question mark right now, which puts his interim title fight suggestion squarely into “just sayin’ stuff” territory. Plus, the UFC usually creates interim titles as a last resort — not a couple months after a healthy champion’s last defense. Furthermore, Cormier’s tongue-in-cheek line that Jones wouldn’t have to fight both DC and Gustafsson is probably the best reason why the UFC wouldn’t pursue this plan.
For once, the UFC has two marketable challengers lined up to throw at their longtime light-heavyweight ruler; that’s two great opportunities to haul in a ton of revenue from pay-per-view buys and ticket sales. Why would they eliminate one of those fights, when so few big-money matchups are on the horizon?
“Just to clear up a couple things, people think we’re in contract negotiations with Jon Jones — we’re not. Jon Jones still has five fights left on his contract,” White said Monday afternoon in an exclusive interview with UFC.com. “So what we’re doing right now is trying to get him to sign the bout agreement for Gustafsson. He doesn’t want to fight Gustafsson. … Lorenzo and I have a meeting with Jones on Thursday to get him to sign the bout agreement, and he’s asking to fight Cormier instead.” …White said if Jones doesn’t sign the contract, who knows, Cormier vs. Gustafsson could be the move.
Stay tuned for the inevitable Instagram video of Jones mocking fans who think he’s ducking Gustafsson.
(And to think, if the guy on the left had won, we’d have a new outright champion by now. Photo via Getty.)
October 1st will mark the two year anniversary (?) of the last time we saw bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz defend his title in the octagon. Multiple ACL tears and a rejected cadaver ligament transplant have seen the once dominant champion sidelined ever since his 2011 battle with now flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. As such, the bantamweight division has been stuck in a perpetual state of limbo, frustrating fans, fighters and most importantly, Dominick Cruz.
But perhaps the only person more frustrated by Cruz’s arduous road to recovery than the champ himself is interim title holder Renan Barao, who recently became the first fighter in UFC history to defend said title twice (via a second round KO of Eddie Wineland at UFC 165). Actually, Barao is the first fighter in UFC history to ever defend an interim belt. Unfortunately, the Brazilian isn’t seeing many benefits of being the closest thing to a champion his division has seen in a dog’s age.
That’s at least, according to Nova Uniao head trainer Andre Pederneiras, who recently appeared on MMAJunkie radio to discuss Barao’s current predicament:
He’s very frustrated because he needs to make money. So many sponsors here in Brazil are not sponsoring him because he’s not the real champion from the UFC. He’s the interim champion. He’s losing money every day.
The sponsors here want a real champion. A linear champion.
(And to think, if the guy on the left had won, we’d have a new outright champion by now. Photo via Getty.)
October 1st will mark the two year anniversary (?) of the last time we saw bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz defend his title in the octagon. Multiple ACL tears and a rejected cadaver ligament transplant have seen the once dominant champion sidelined ever since his 2011 battle with now flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. As such, the bantamweight division has been stuck in a perpetual state of limbo, frustrating fans, fighters and most importantly, Dominick Cruz.
But perhaps the only person more frustrated by Cruz’s arduous road to recovery than the champ himself is interim title holder Renan Barao, who recently became the first fighter in UFC history to defend said title twice (via a second round KO of Eddie Wineland at UFC 165). Actually, Barao is the first fighter in UFC history to ever defend an interim belt. Unfortunately, the Brazilian isn’t seeing many benefits of being the closest thing to a champion his division has seen in a dog’s age.
That’s at least, according to Nova Uniao head trainer Andre Pederneiras, who recently appeared on MMAJunkie radio to discuss Barao’s current predicament:
He’s very frustrated because he needs to make money. So many sponsors here in Brazil are not sponsoring him because he’s not the real champion from the UFC. He’s the interim champion. He’s losing money every day.
The sponsors here want a real champion. A linear champion.
We’ve seen several message boards around the MMA blogosphere making the case that, had Urijah Faber defeated Barao at UFC 149, he would have arguably been promoted to outright champion by now. Why? Because although Barao being champion would clearly be more profitable for Barao, a well known, *American* star like Faber being champion would be far more profitable for the UFC. It would fuel the already heated rivalry between Cruz and Faber, it would give the UFC an opportunity to promote a champion, etc. Cruz would have been able to cash in that lottery ticket he missed out on at UFC 148, so to speak.
Just an observation.
But there is hope, as “The Dominator” is currently eyeing a February 2014 return. It’s a timetable that Pederneiras and company are eager to see come to fruition. Otherwise, well…
I don’t want another opponent. I want to make the fight happen by February, or I need to talk to Dana to take his belt, because more than two-and-a-half years, I don’t understand. But he said he was probably going to be fighting in February.
I’ve been waiting for that and praying every day for it to happen. Renan wants to fight Dominick.
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.
(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?
If you ever wanted to tie things up, Matt Hughes, now is the time.
The UFC’s Welterweight division has been going nowhere fast for quite some time now. In the time since champ Georges St. Pierre was sidelined with an injury and lengthy recovery, we’ve controversially crowned a interim king who’d prefer to sit and wait for the champion to reemerge rather than fight the rest of the weight class’s top contenders, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what an interim champ is supposed to do.
Now, finally, it looks like frustrated fans have some good news: Carlos Condit has a date with “Rush” marked on his calendar. The bad news? It’s written in pencil and we still have to wait five months to see it.
As reported by Sherdog.com, UFC 154, slated to go down on November 17th in Montreal, will feature the ‘unification’ of the two Welterweight straps. St. Pierre last defended his title against Jake Shields at UFC 129 in April of 2011. Assuming that Georges recovers in time for this scrap, will nineteen months of ring rust make for an even more conservative performance from the champ?
After the jump, Hendricks and Kampmann will vie for a title shot on the undercard.
If you ever wanted to tie things up, Matt Hughes, now is the time.
The UFC’s Welterweight division has been going nowhere fast for quite some time now. In the time since champ Georges St. Pierre was sidelined with an injury and lengthy recovery, we’ve controversially crowned a interim king who’d prefer to sit and wait for the champion to reemerge rather than fight the rest of the weight class’s top contenders, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what an interim champ is supposed to do.
Now, finally, it looks like frustrated fans have some good news: Carlos Condit has a date with “Rush” marked on his calendar. The bad news? It’s written in pencil and we still have to wait five months to see it.
As reported by Sherdog.com, UFC 154, slated to go down on November 17th in Montreal, will feature the ‘unification’ of the two Welterweight straps. St. Pierre last defended his title against Jake Shields at UFC 129 in April of 2011. Assuming that Georges recovers in time for this scrap, will nineteen months of ring rust make for an even more conservative performance from the champ?
If things go to hell and GSP isn’t fully recovered in time for the bout, look for “The Hitman” to step up and face Condit for the interim title. “The Natural Born Killer” has previously stated that he’d like a chance to avenge his last loss to Kampmann in the event that GSP’s return is delayed.
By Elias Cepeda (“I am not im-pressed wit my lack of title de-fense.”)
It’s time to strip Georges St. Pierre of his UFC welterweight championship.
Ok, perhaps not at this very moment, but come May 1, it will have been over a year since the UFC champ has defended his 170lb strap. St. Pierre hasn’t run from challenges or fights, he’s just had several consecutive knee injuries (the most recent one, a torn ACL that required surgery to repair) that have forced him to pull out of scheduled belt defenses.
Carlos Condit just won a razor-thin interim title bout against Nick Diaz at UFC 143, but would have to wait until the new year is almost over before being able to fight GSP. The Canadian says he won’t be ready to fight again until November. Unfortunately, we’ve seen these situations in the UFC before and a standard has emerged of champions needing to defend their titles at least once a year. In 2004, UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir was in a motorcycle accident that put him on the shelf. Initially, when it was unknown if and when he would return, an interim title was created and was won by Andrei Arlovski. When it was clear that Mir would go longer than a year without defending his belt, the interim champ was made the “full” champ. It wasn’t about punishing Mir, it was simply about letting the division continue, with significant matchups made and fights promoted well.
Even GSP seems to agree that he shouldn’t be considered the UFC champion while going so long without defending the gold. “The way I see it, I am not the champion anymore on Saturday night. I have not fought since April, against my will, but I understand the champion must fight. You have to put the belt on the line in order to call yourself champion, the best in the world. Right now I am not the best in the world, I am injured,” he told UFC.com shortly before UFC 143.
By Elias Cepeda (“I am not im-pressed wit my lack of title de-fense.”)
It’s time to strip Georges St. Pierre of his UFC welterweight championship.
Ok, perhaps not at this very moment, but come May 1, it will have been over a year since the UFC champ has defended his 170lb strap. St. Pierre hasn’t run from challenges or fights, he’s just had several consecutive knee injuries (the most recent one, a torn ACL that required surgery to repair) that have forced him to pull out of scheduled belt defenses.
Carlos Condit just won a razor-thin interim title bout against Nick Diaz at UFC 143, but would have to wait until the new year is almost over before being able to fight GSP. The Canadian says he won’t be ready to fight again until November. Unfortunately, we’ve seen these situations in the UFC before and a standard has emerged of champions needing to defend their titles at least once a year. In 2004, UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir was in a motorcycle accident that put him on the shelf. Initially, when it was unknown if and when he would return, an interim title was created and was won by Andrei Arlovski. When it was clear that Mir would go longer than a year without defending his belt, the interim champ was made the “full” champ. It wasn’t about punishing Mir, it was simply about letting the division continue, with significant matchups made and fights promoted well.
Even GSP seems to agree that he shouldn’t be considered the UFC champion while going so long without defending the gold. “The way I see it, I am not the champion anymore on Saturday night. I have not fought since April, against my will, but I understand the champion must fight. You have to put the belt on the line in order to call yourself champion, the best in the world. Right now I am not the best in the world, I am injured,” he told UFC.com shortly before UFC 143.
UFC President Dana White was asked about immediately rematching Condit and Diaz at the UFC 143 post-event presser and said, “I don’t know. That’s crazy. That’s crazy.” Then again, he said it with a grin on his face. One has to guess that White wouldn’t mind another grudge match that features lots of Nick Diaz doing this in the lead up promotion.
But the only reason an immediate return bout for Condit and Diaz would be “crazy,” is if it wasn’t for the UFC welterweight belt. Condit having to beat Diaz twice for a shot at St. Pierre smacks of unfairness.
But take St. Pierre out of the immediate title equation, because he, like past injured champions, is not able to defend his title within a year, and you’ve got Carlos Condit as the defending UFC welterweight against his new shit-talking nemesis who just went blow for blow with him in a close five-rounder.
Automatic title rematches after close bouts are almost the norm in the UFC. See Randy Couture versus Pedro Rizzo in 2001, Lyoto Machida versus “Shogun” Rua in 2009 and 2010, and Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard in 2011. The only reason most haven’t been calling for the same to happen with Condit and Diaz is that there is currently the pesky matter of multiple champions.
Before UFC 143 the welterweight division had a love triangle of GSP, Diaz and Condit. Hell, St. Pierre was even a central character in Condit and Diaz’s Primetime special. After their close stand-up battle last weekend, and with GSP still unable to fight, we’ve basically got the same top three guys in play. It would be unfair to expect Condit and Diaz to go the better part of a year without the wages another fight would earn them while everyone waits for St. Pierre to heal up. And having either or both of them fight other men could just confuse the title picture further and push the rivalries that we’ve come to care about these past few months to the back burner.
White has said that Diaz fighting Koscheck next is interesting to him, but would it be to that many others? I, for one, am more interested to see if Koscheck can actually earn a win against someone like Mike Pierce after a gift decision Saturday. And with his wrestling Koscheck would have a good shot at beating Diaz, placing him closer to a third fight with St. Pierre that no one without a curly bleached FresnoFro wants to see. I’d much rather see Josh Koscheck and Javier Mendez square off after recent events.
St. Pierre is the best welterweight the UFC has, but unfortunately injuries have taken him out of the game for the time being. He can’t defend his title the way champions have historically had to, or in a manner that even he feels is sufficient.
Don’t make Condit sit out almost a year without earning a purse, the guy has a wife and kid to take care of, after all. Give the man the title he’s earned by winning against the number one contender and by essentially being on call for big fights for the last seven months and then let him earn his paper by taking on the man who made the “Natural Born Killer” turn to masterful tactics over his usual reckless abandon.
With Condit vs. Diaz II, the fans would have another evenly-matched blockbuster on their hands between two men who will start to resent each other more and more with each passing day. Would it suck for St. Pierre? Absolutely, but it wouldn’t be unfair to him.
Here’s an added bonus: Think St. Pierre doesn’t go for the finish anymore? Imagine the aggressive riddum he’d bring when he returns to bear on the man who holds the belt he never technically lost.
