HE’S BEEN CALLED a paper champion with a fake belt by his detractors for the past five months, but Conor McGregor will have an opportunity to settle all doubts over his legitimacy as a UFC world champion in Las Vegas this Saturday night.
The Irish star’s clash with Jose Aldo at UFC 194 will be the seventh unification bout in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where two champions from the same division — a champion and an interim champion — meet to settle their differences, with the winner being crowned the undisputed UFC featherweight champion.
In terms of results, there’s been an even split in the six previous champion-versus-interim-champion bouts in the UFC. These are the three men McGregor will aim to emulate this weekend by graduating from interim title-holder to undisputed champ…
Randy Couture
Aiming to make his sixth successful defence of the UFC light-heavyweight title in a row, Tito Ortiz returned after nearly a year away from the octagon to face former heavyweight champion Randy Couture at UFC 44 in September 2003.
During Ortiz’s absence — due to a combination of injuries, movie commitments and a contract disagreement with the UFC — Couture had captured the interim 205lbs title three months earlier by defeating Chuck Liddell in his first fight since making the cut down from the heavyweight division.
Ortiz’s lengthy lay-off appeared to be a factor when he was faced with Couture, as the champion displayed signs of ring-rust. Couture dominated Ortiz over five rounds to take the win by decision, becoming the oldest champion — at 40 years of age — in UFC history (he was also heavyweight champ again at 45), and giving Ortiz his first taste of defeat since his loss to Frank Shamrock four years earlier.
Couture relinquished the title in his inaugural defence when he sustained a cut around his eye, which led the doctor to call a halt to his clash with Vitor Belfort after just 49 seconds. Couture regained the belt in the rematch — which also ended via doctor stoppage — but again he failed to defend it as Chuck Liddell gained revenge in April 2005.
Georges St Pierre
When he avenged the only loss of his career at that point by dethroning the legendary Matt Hughes in November 2006, Georges St Pierre was being tipped for a long and dominant reign as UFC welterweight champion. He went on to become the undisputed kingpin in the 170lbs division — eventually — but his first stint in possession of the belt ended in his very first title defence.
In one of the biggest shocks in UFC history, St Pierre suffered a first-round TKO loss to Matt Serra at UFC 69. The Canadian bounced back by defeating Josh Koscheck, before seeing off Hughes again in December 2007. With Serra sidelined for a year due to a back injury, St Pierre was rewarded for his latest win against Hughes with an interim title.
When Serra returned for UFC 83 in April 2008, St Pierre finished him by second-round TKO to regain the belt in Montreal in front of a then-record UFC crowd of over 21,000. St Pierre went on to make nine successful defences of the welterweight title — including another unification bout against Carlos Condit — before retiring in 2013, but speculation suggests that ‘Rush’ could return to action next year.
Fabricio Werdum
Cain Velasquez was due to defend the UFC heavyweight title against Fabricio Werdum in October of last year. However, when an injury forced Velasquez to pull out, Werdum fought Mark Hunt in an interim title bout instead and won via second-round TKO.
A title unification fight between Velasquez and Werdum was arranged for UFC 188 in June of this year. Despite entering the contest as a huge underdog, Werdum submitted the champion with a third-round guilltone to end Velasquez’s second spell as the UFC’s 265lbs title-holder.
A rematch between the pair is expected to take place in 2016.
For the record, here are the results of the three unification bouts that didn’t go in favour of the interim champions:
- Brock Lesnar def. Frank Mir via TKO after 1:48 of the second round (UFC 100 — 11 July, 2009)
- Brock Lesnar def. Shane Carwin via submission (arm-triangle) after 2:19 of the second round (UFC 116 — 3 July, 2010)
- Georges St Pierre def. Carlos Condit via unanimous decision (UFC 154 — 17 November, 2012)
