UFC Risks Devaluing Titles With Proposed José Aldo Bout
Don’t look now, but the UFC is about to repeat history by creating an unnecessary interim title for UFC 209. That, at least, is according to current featherweight champion José Aldo, who claims he will be fighting for an interim lightweight title at the event.
It seems the McGregor-Aldo saga just won’t die. Aldo, who is apparently still seething from his December 2015 loss to McGregor at UFC 194, has been chasing after a rematch ever since — as long as it’s not too short notice. In an exclusive and revealing interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, he let slip that he’s jumping up in weight to pursue McGregor, and has agreed to a March bout at UFC 209 for the interim lightweight championship, against an opponent to be named later.
The much-ballyhooed title unification fight at UFC 208 in February, it seems, is off the table. Aldo has placed the blame for that on interim featherweight champ Max Holloway, while Holloway responded saying he’s healing up from his UFC 206 affair with Anthony Pettis. Not to mention that he isn’t sure Jose Waldo would show up.
It’s Holloway’s reference to Aldo’s tendency to pull out of fights that seems to have Aldo fired up in the interview, but in reality, the real point to ponder is why Aldo, whose own division was tied up for over a year after he pulled out of a title fight against McGregor at UFC 189, even needs to be in a bout for an interim title at 155-pounds.
That’s not to say he shouldn’t move up in weight and pursue a rematch against McGregor if the Irish fighter is truly done at featherweight. Aldo at lightweight has been a compelling idea since Frankie Edgar ruled the roost there.
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However, creating another unnecessary interim championship so soon after an utterly valueless featherweight belt was created to save the UFC 206 PPV? That runs the risk of completely devaluing UFC titles. After all, are you really the “undisputed” champion if the promotion will cook up an interim belt on a whim (or to save events poorly booked)?
It’s a funny problem for the UFC to have. Just years earlier, they were heavily criticized for waiting too long to create interim championships.
It’s especially troublesome here, however. For one, Aldo regained the featherweight title only because the UFC stripped McGregor when they needed a title on the line at UFC 206. Since Aldo already had an interim featherweight title, he became the full champ, Holloway won the “interim” belt (really just a date with Aldo), and McGregor… well, he never really lost the title.
And he’s sticking to the claim that he’s still the real champ.
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If that’s not enough of a mess, McGregor also seems to be disputing that he’ll be gone for 10 months, as UFC President Dana White previously indicated. Talking to RTE (via MMA Insight) he now says he’s weighing his options regarding getting another title fight in.
10 months might just barely excuse an interim title (and it’s shocking the UFC doesn’t have a set timeframe for such titles being created), but if there’s any possibility of McGregor fighting before then, it shouldn’t happen. The shell game of titles just needs to stop. There should be a number of valid title fight options open for UFC 209, and the Aldo vs. whoever fight could easily serve as a co-main event or non-title five-round headliner.
Speaking of whoever, per his interview with Helwani, Aldo suggests that one lightweight has already turned down the proposed interim title fight. “A guy we never thought would turn it down turned it down, because his father didn’t think it was good” Aldo explained. Yikes.
Though maybe it’s not so unsurprising. One featherweight has already come up in weight and turned the division on end, namely McGregor when he knocked out former champ Eddie Alvarez. Top contenders like Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov may think twice before risking their own shot at McGregor for someone new to the division — and may also question why they aren’t fighting each other for interim gold if an interim belt is going to be made.
The strangest twist in all of this, however, is that should it happen, and Aldo win, he would technically be a simultaneous two weight champion: one belt having been awarded to him after it was stripped from McGregor and the other being of questionable value.
In the end, one thing is certain — where McGregor goes, turmoil follows, even through no fault of his own. Yet as long as he keeps bringing in the fans, the UFC will allow it. They must tread carefully, however, or risk creating a situation similar to boxing, where titles are so numerous, they begin to lose meaning.
