Shane Carwin Versus Frank Mir for Illegitimate Title?

Fighters.com second ranked UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (4-1) is said to be out at least six months before he can begin training and another four months before he could fight. This situation calls for Brock to be stripped of his title.Fighters.com’s third-ranked heavyweight Frank Mir (13-4) and sixth-ranked Shane Carwin (10-0) could match-up for an interim UFC heavyweight title at UFC 111 in Newark March 27 according to reports. Interim titles are confusing to fans, bad for the sport and serve no real purpose.

Frank Mir was once the UFC heavyweight champion before his tragic motorcycle accident in September of 2004. He
broke his Femur and tore every ligament in his knee. After being unable to defend his title he was stripped of the title and the rest, as they say. is history. Fans believe this makes sense.

If an organization instead decides to have an interim title, it confuses the fans. Now we have a champion and a guy who is a “champion” but only until the real champ gets back. Essentially what we have is a make believe champion. The fighter himself has gained nothing other than a title shot which in the case of Shane Carwin, he already had before Brock fell ill. Boxing has used interim titles in the past and that combined with all the different organizations led to a confusing title picture with no clear world champion at any weight division. Fans want to know who the champion is and not have to deal with statements involving “interim’ and “real”champ. Mixed martial arts is trying to avoid the pitfalls boxing has fallen prey too yet here we are watching the title picture get muddied with rumors of interim titles. I won’t even mention the fact that we still don’t see the best fight the best in mma today, another boxing error.

Combat sports revolve around titles,without them there would be no reason to fight. If the champion is out I understand that making an interim title fight gives the fans a chance to see the next best compete in a five round fight that is supposed to be meaningful. However we have to put the future of the sport before big pay per view numbers and 5 round fights that produce nothing. These are things that will ruin the sport. MMA today is on the rise despite the recent drop in pay per view buys for the UFC. Fans of mma need to speak up and let promoters know that we do not want an interim champion. We want the current champ to fight and if unable then we want him to be stripped of the title. Obviously upon his return he would be given the next shot against whoever the current champion would be at that time. This gives the sport clarity and is what will help to generate new fans and not alienate them due to confusion. This confusion comes for “title fights” which serve no purpose.

An interim title fight is not a fight for a legitimate title. The current title of UFC heavyweight champion belongs to Brock Lesnar. Let’s say the fight between Carwin and Mir happens and is for the interim title. The winner then becomes the interim champion. Then when Brock gets healthy he will get the winner in another 5 round fight. What happens if while training Brock gets hurt and something happens to the Mir versus Carwin winner. We now have both “champions” injured. What comes next, an interim interim champ? The interim title is more like a gimmick and the last thing mixed martial arts needs is gimmicks when we are already compared to professional wrestling by some of the uninitiated.

Men work for years to become a world champion. If an interim title holder then loses to Brock, he will never be recognized as a true champion regardless of what he is called until Brock can make a return. The only men that get to be called champion are those that have actually beat the champion. These are the legitimates champions and the ones the fans of this sport want to meet and want to love or hate.

The only right way to determine who the champ is happens inside the Octagon. Keeping the sport pure, the fans easily informed and generating true champions is what we need to strive for and this is done by having promoters state very clearly what is expected of a champion in mma. All organizations should let the fighters know that if they are unable to defend the title for whatever reason for “x” amount of time, they will be stripped of the title . If the fighter is unable to defend due to injury then he would be given an immediate shot to regain his title back once he is physically able to perform.  Not only odes this give the fighters a clear picture of what they need to do in order to retain their title, it also gives the fans a clear picture of each division in case of injury. There will be no need to sit and speculate as to what is next for a division with an injured champion.

I understand this is not currently in place in the UFC and so here we sit discussing a fight between Shane Carwin and Frank Mir for an illegitimate title that will do nothing but confuse fans and lead to the downfall of our sport.