The UFC has seen interim champion belts handed out for several years but what does it mean?
UFC 265 was the latest event that saw and interim champion being crowned. The UFC has handed out interim titles in the past and this time it was Ciryl Gane getting the gold.
Gane came into UFC 265 undefeated in his career and continued the streak. The Heavyweight faced off against challenger Derrick Lewis and dominated the Black Beast from the first minute.
Gane became France’s first UFC Champion but he only picked up the interim belt. The current Heavyweight champion is Francis Ngannou but why did the UFC have an interim champion then?
What is the meaning of an interim champion in the UFC?
The simple answer to this is that the UFC creates an interim belt when the undisputed champion is unable to fight.
This could be for various reasons. A star could be injured and the UFC might not want to strip him or the champion doesn’t want to fight now since he is just coming off a big fight and the UFC wants to continue progressing the division.
Of course, the interim belt is ranked lower when compared to the real thing, and most of the interim champions do get a shot at the gold when the undisputed champion is ready for a fight.
Then there are times when the undisputed champion refuses to face his rival and an interim title is created.
Another example is that the UFC can create an interim belt to crown a champion when someone else tries to move up a division.
The UFC did that for Conor McGregor as he was trying to win the 155pound belt. An interim title fight was created between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar to continue the division.
Who are the biggest UFC interim champions?
The first UFC interim champion was crowned way back in 2003 when Randy Couture defeated Chuck Liddell.
However, there have been some other big names to have won the interim title. The UFC has crowned many interim champions in the past too with big names such as Fabricio Werdum, Jon Jones, Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, Georges St-Pierre, Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson, McGregor and Max Holloway to name a few.
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