[ad_1]
UFC 236 will play a double extravaganza for the title for the provisional title, and neither the welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley nor Ben Askren can really understand why.
On April 13, the pay-per-view program in Atlanta will feature fighting between current featherweight champion Max Holloway and 155-pound contender Dustin Poirier. And in the co-star, Israel Adesanya meets Kelvin Gastelum for the interim middleweight title.
All while lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is serving a nine-month suspension for his role in the UFC 229 fight and middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is recovering from a collapsed bowel operation.
Do you have all this?
"It's a fun thing for me," Woodley said at a media luncheon in Los Angeles. "The transition belt is the biggest joke on earth."
But there are two in one night, though.
"Ooh, a stacked card! Interim dual belt, "Woodley joked before continuing. "I'm not trying to hate, because I'm not trying to put my ass back in the niche. … But when you think about it, you have a current champion, who among all the champions, Max Holloway is perhaps our favorite champion. If you ask all the champions who is their favorite champion, we could all say Max Holloway. He does not have to ride to fight for an interim belt. Unless he is fighting for a real lightweight belt, that makes no sense. "
For some, it sounds particularly good when you know that Holloway does not even face the No. 1 lightweight pretender for provisional gold. This distinction belongs to former interim champion Tony Ferguson, who reportedly refused the fight against Holloway because it was not the real belt.
For this reason, Askren has already answered a question.
"Why did they force a fight for the title at 155? I think that's a bit what Tyron says too. It's silly, "said Askren. "Let Max defend his belt (145 pounds). There are five other things to do that make a lot more sense.
"Or maybe everyone says no (to the fighting), I do not know."
However, not all intermediate title fights are created equal. As for the 185-pound bout, Woodley and Askren seem to be on board because of the couple and the situation surrounding Whittaker's lack of injury.
"When you look at Gastelum (vs) Adesanya, in this situation, I think it's justified," Woodley said.
Woodley, of course, may be related to the situation, as UFC President Dana White almost chose to create an interim title before Woodley was retained to defend himself against Kamaru Usman on Saturday at the 39th. UFC 235.
"In my situation, there was no need for an interim belt," Woodley said. "I had not even been out for eight months and I might have fought it next month. I think that when we do an acting just to do an acting, it takes away the burden of having a real belt. "
He continued, "When you ask guys to fight for an interim strap, it's like saying," Well, let me fight for second place. It's just weird for me.
For more information on UFC 235 and UFC 236, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.
[ad_2]
Source link