With Silva's future in question; Bisping wants interim title shot
Posted on November 13, 2012, 08:56 PM by Andreas Hale
Anderson Silva's proposed vacation may hold up his super fight with Georges St-Pierre, but Michael Bisping doesn't want it to hold up the middleweight division. As he prepares for his UFC on FX 7 showdown with Vitor Belfort, Bisping took to his Twitter to suggest that there should be an interim title if Silva does indeed take some time off. And, obviously, Bisping wants the first shot at it.
"If Anderson wants to take time off to be a movie star make me and vitor for the interim title????" Bisping tweeted.
While this might be a good idea, Dana White has yet to respond regarding the implementation of the title. However, if Vitor Belfort and Michael Bisping's fight becomes for the interim title, Chris Weidman will likely be somewhere feeling slighted yet again. Weidman has a very strong argument that he should be the first individual to get a crack at an interim title as he remains undefeated and appears to be next in line should he get past Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 next month. Meanwhile, Alan Belcher also has a legit argument as to why he should be in the mix. Belcher will also be at UFC 155 when he faces Yushin Okami.
Whichever way the UFC decides to go, there is certainly nothing easy about reshaping the middleweight division should Anderson Silva decide to take a leave of absence after dominating the division for so long.
Comments
I'd agree with Bisping. It's disappointing that Anderson Silva wont be fighting till the end of 2013 but this should not have collateral damage to the careers of other fighters in the division. I am personally against Silva's justification for not fighting, it just sounds ridiculous.
bisping is a joke, if he wants the tittle he has to earn it....
Bisping is not exactly a joke. In my opinion he won that fight against Chael Sonnen.
Bisping is ****ing solid, 24-4 record and I can only remember him getting destroyed once by the H bomb. He has been fighting top dogs for a while now, I reckon after the Belfort fight he definitely deserves a shitletot.
look at chaels sonnens record
chael sonnens UFC record is 6-5. that sucks!
he only finished one opponent and got himself finished 5 times...
IMO chael lost that fight to bisbing to...
My point is that Cheal was a number 1 contender after his fight with Bisping which in my opinion, he never won. I am not saying that Chael has a great record.
Good idea, anyways Anderson won't be fighting at 185 in his next fight so he won't be able to defend his title once a year ;)
Bisping should face Boetch vs Weidman winner and for interim. I say Bisping because I am that sure that he will win a fight against vitor
Bisping is going to do the stanky leg.
8 fighter tournament for the interim champ, with...
Bisping
Botesch
Belcher
Belfort
Weidman
Okami
Stann
Palhares
Put the names in a hat and draw the match ups for guys who aren't already fighting each other.
How good would that be...
Replace Stann with Jacare and Palhares with Rockhold and I I will +1 that.
Excellent idea , with all the new guys that will be coming in from SF and the new up and coming guys at middleweight in the UFC it would clear out the log jam at the top of the middleweight division.
if only you were dana...
great idea but I would have to put Lombard in there instead of Stann. I know Lombard didn't look good but he looked just as bad as Boetsh who's in it, besides that Stann has been dominated by his only two top 10 opponents at 185
@Cranestyle
Royal Rumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's dig up Davey Boy Smith to make a surprise return, I can see him kicking off a Palhares ankle lock and winning Bisping the fight.
While Weidman ends up knocking himself out because no one can do it... and Chris Leben smashing a chair over Brian Stans head as he skull f/&&% Botesch...
Will never happen but would be sensational!
If Silva is not defending his title for another year and he last defended at the start of July this year he should really vacate the title.
GSP called Condit the real champ because he hasn't defended the belt for a year and a half and sees himself as the challenger. I don't know why the UFC invalidate belts and titles with their interim bollocks. Of course Silva has no choice in what the UFC decide to do with the belt. Most likely they will keep Silva champ, but come end of next year he will have defended it only 5 times in 4 years.
PS: I think titles should have to be defended a minimum of 3 times a year to still be valid.
Min 3 times? That leaves too little time to recuperate. Twice a year should be mandatory barring unusual circumstances.
Mandatory three times is not practical.
Two times, though, is a reasonable number.
Winner of weidman boetsch should fight bisping for te interim, then have victor fight winner of okami and belcher to see who gets first hot at the new interim champ.
I'm with Bisping. Under no circumstances should the division be put on hold for, what is amounting to, a prima donna. If Anderson wants a year off or to retire, fine, but the belt goes up for contention. Anderson needs to learn that The UFC is not Burger King and he can't always have it "his way". IF he wants to take off, cool, but the belt stays here and he is no longer The UFC middle weight champ. He will be the former MW champ.
However, I disagree with Michael that he and Belfort should be for the title fight and it shouldn't be referred to as "interim" It should be the winner of Weidman / Boetsch vs. the winner of Belcher / Okami for the (real) belt, with the winner of Bisping / Belfort getting the first crack at the new champ. I think that would be fair.
The upside of all this....UFC 155 just became a whole lot more relevant and important. It's great. By the end of the night we will know whose fighting for the title and if it's Weidman / Belcher for the title ...great fight.
So Silva is planing on not defending his title from July 2012 to Dec 2013 and it's actually a question if there should be a intrem title fight? The thing that occurs to me is that this is by Silvas choice rather then misfortune and I actually think it is totally fair if they strip his belt entirely.
GSP has been gone for about the same time as Silva will be but he was injured not taking a sabbatical.
So Silva is planing on not defending his title from July 2012 to Dec 2013 and it's actually a question if there should be a intrem title fight? The thing that occurs to me is that this is by Silvas choice rather then misfortune and I actually think it is totally fair if they strip his belt entirely.
GSP has been gone for about the same time as Silva will be but he was injured not taking a sabbatical.
Great another fake belt.... Anderson is The P4P best fighter in the world.. Making a fake belt in his break is just a complete joke..
I'm a crazy Silva fanboy but I support Bisping for this, if you take that long off voluntarily you can't expect the UFC MW division to take a year off as well
@Keith
I never thought of you as a "crazy fanboy".... what are you when you go to Thailand, a lady boy???
No offence to any men lovers on this site, I just never expected it from Keith... Glad you're coming out Keith. You deserve to be happy.
Another "Training Camp" or should I say "Camp Training" in Thailand this year???
:) Sorry man, just yankin ya chain!! No, Keith... dont go there :)