Will an interim title save the UFC’s middleweight division?

At UFC 213 Yoel Romero will fight Robert Whittaker for the interim middleweight title. With the actual champion injured and still lobbying for the ‘money’ fight against Georges St Pierre, has the division any hope of becoming a meritocracy again?

The UFC’s middleweight division is stacked with top fighters. The depth of talent means that of the three ranked former champions only one (Anderson Silva) has ever had a rematch for the title. Current champion Michael Bisping has defended the belt once against Dan Henderson since winning the belt over a year ago.

Bisping’s injury has forced the UFC to create an interim title but the winner is still not guaranteed a unification fight. The returning former welterweight champion Georges St Pierre and Bisping are still lobbying to fight in November. Bisping has even labelled the interim title a paper championship.

With all the top contenders stalled and a unification fight unlikely booking is the only way to save the division’s credibility but the UFC is failing to make this happen through a failure to book marquee fights from a stacked division of contenders.

Luke Rockhold has not fought since losing the championship in June 2016, he has made it known that he is ready to step in as a last minute replacement for the interim title but has yet to be booked for a fight of his own. Rockhold lobbied for a fight against Gegard Mousasi, but Mousasi’s contract negotiations with the UFC have scuppered any potential bout for now. In an interview with MMA Fighting Rockhold vented his frustrations: “The division is f*cked.”

Mousasi is on a roll in the UFC but is out-of-contract, the UFC has made an offer that Mousasi refused and said: “They should pay,” on an episode of UFC Tonight. The Dreamcatcher is on a five fight win streak and has held multiple titles in other promotions. Dana White has described himself as a Gegard fan but there has been no news on a contract and Gegard will soon be free to talk to other promotions.

Chris Weidman is due to face Kelvin Gastelum on the 22^nd of July and hopes to end a three fight losing streak. A win for either man would still not put them into title contention for a title shot but may place them in line for the eventual interim champion.

The winner of the interim title faces the option of defending it having a long wait for the unification bout. Inactivity seems to be problem with the division as neither Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza or Anderson Silva have fights booked either.

Booking seems to be the biggest problem with the division and to fix it the UFC needs to be enticing contenders to risk their positions in the rankings rather than waiting for title shots – interim or championship. Until this becomes the case then the division will remain in flux and Romero or Whittaker will be paper champions.