If Anderson Silva Plans on Taking 2013 Off, Michael Bisping Wants UFC Interim Title

On Monday, reigning UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva revealed he intended to take most of 2013 off to concentrate on his role in Sensei Steven Seagal’s action movie and the opening of his gym in Los Angeles. That scenario might work out well for “The Spider,” but it leaves his division’s top contenders standing in quicksand, and Michael Bisping (Pictured) wants the UFC to do something about it.

After catching wind of Silva’s agenda, the boisterous Brit took to his twitter and asked UFC president Dana White to manufacture a 185-pound belt if he allows Silva to take an extended hiatus.

“@danawhite if Anderson wants to take time off to be a movie star make me and vitor for the interim title????” Bisping asked White.

Bisping and Vitor Belfort are slotted to headline the Octagon’s return to Brazil on January 19th. “The Count” posted a unanimous decision win over Brian Stann at UFC 152 to get back in the win column. He had dropped a close decision loss to Chael Sonnen in the bout prior.

Belfort is coming off a submission loss to light heavyweight champ Jon Jones at UFC 152 in Toronto.

If an interim champion were to be crowned, undefeated Chris Weidman would certainly like to throw his name in the hat.
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Fuckin doit Dana! Mikeh vs Weidman NOW! Scrap their current fights and have their opponents fight each other... That would be one hell of a fight anyway! Belfort/Boetsch for next shot.

Yeah 100% agree with chrom and bisping (never thought i would say that )


It makes more sense for Bisping/Weidman to fight for the title and yes if silva is planning on taking most of 2013 off to do movies he should let the title go. i am cool with interm titles when it's because the champ gets injured but to take off to do movies then there should be no interm title just a new champion to take over. I think it would be messed up to do it any other way. it's not very fair for several MW contenders to have to wait for a crack at the title cause the champ wants to be in the movies.

That's a damn good point... I didn't even think about that. He is essentially saying Movies>Defending My Title, so he should lose the title... it only makes sense. Make him "Champion Emeritus" and he can go do what ever the fuck he wants for how ever long he wants and can come back at anytime and challenge for the title.

I leave you two alone for a few hours and look what happens. You're suggesting Silva should be stripped of his title?!

LOL, wow.....

I don't really even know what else to say about that, so back onto the original topic.
I agree with Bisping, as well. I would have no problem with him, Belfort, or Weidman being crowned Interim champ in the absence of the actual champ. But there lies the problem; we all know Interim title don't really mean half a shit, so what's the point really?

^^^^^

if he is going to take over an entire year away from fighting just becuse he wants to do a movie then yes he should be stripped of his title. If this was due to injury then i would change my tune real quickly. but this is a choice Silva is making. I am in no way cracking on Silva for doing a movie (even if it's with segal) but to hold up a divison for it is just wrong and not right. There are a lot of contenders who havent had a chance at silva yet to win that the title and shouldnt have to wait over a year to get it. Some of these guys are only a fight away from being a top contender but would have to fight 2-3 more times just to wait for the oppertunity or even worse and play the rashad game i wont fight till i get my title shot attitude or even play the picky fighter game. i will fight him but not him cause he could cost me my oppertunity for a title shot i am waiting around for.

Plus you could build this up to a big fight too and a huge paper-view down the road. the champ that walked away from his title has now returned to take back what was his and a new champion that says his time has past.. I dont know about you but this gives me goose bumps. It's kind of like how BJ beat hueghs the first time but walked away from the promotion after beating the champ to come back later on to take it back again.

I'm not suggesting you strip him. I suggested making him Champion Emeritus. Very different than stripping him.

It's just an interim belt... I see nothing wrong with it.
As soon as Anderson is ready to fight, he will get a title shot no questions asked.

Yeah i guess i am in the lone on this one cause i am saying strip him of it. There are other avenues he would rather take then defending his title at this moment then let some one else step up for the right to be champ (not interm champ) cause that title holds absoulty nothing. when you think of WW champ do most go gsp and condit or do most just say GSP is the champ. A lot of casual fans probably dont even know condit is a interm champ.

Strip him of it if he chooses this route and give him a shot at the title when he returns to action.

But is he not the most deserving to wear that belt, even though he is choosing to take some time off? If he takes the time off, would he not still be considered the best fighter in the division?
What you are suggesting is kind of off-base because, in reality, nobody is going to consider whoever ends up winning the "new" championship the real champion, anyway. Even is Silva doesn't come back for a year, do you really think anyone will recognize Bisping or Weidman or anybody else at the "real" champ? No way in hell. They would be viewed as nothing more than an (wait for it.........) Interim Champ.
So again, what's the point?

Well I would have no issue stripping him of the belt IF he says "im not fighting in 2013 to make a movie catch you guys in 2014"

I have no problem at all taking the belt away from him then. But if he is going to come back in the summer or something then no.

Triggerman99 wrote:

But is he not the most deserving to wear that belt, even though he is choosing to take some time off? If he takes the time off, would he not still be considered the best fighter in the division?
What you are suggesting is kind of off-base because, in reality, nobody is going to consider whoever ends up winning the "new" championship the real champion, anyway. Even is Silva doesn't come back for a year, do you really think anyone will recognize Bisping or Weidman or anybody else at the "real" champ? No way in hell. They would be viewed as nothing more than an (wait for it.........) Interim Champ.
So again, what's the point?

so we should just let silva do what ever he wants, when ever he wants and defend his title when ever he chooses to even if that means taking over a year off to make a movie? and No if he does go this route he is not the most deserving to wear that belt. The most deserving is the guy who wears it and defends it atleast twice a year if not more. If silva takes off all 2013 the next time we will see a title defense will be over 18 months and thats if he fights in january of 2014. no way he should still be champ at that point. He wants to go a new route cool but to hold up the title for almost 2 years for it...no way.

Interim belts are such a joke

Yeah .... I'm an Anderson fan but.... naw.... take the time off sure but give up the title. It's bad enough that people have to wait around for an injury layoff but really, a movie layoff?

6 mos layoff between fights and vacate if you are injury free.

Gecko wrote:

Triggerman99 wrote:

But is he not the most deserving to wear that belt, even though he is choosing to take some time off? If he takes the time off, would he not still be considered the best fighter in the division?
What you are suggesting is kind of off-base because, in reality, nobody is going to consider whoever ends up winning the "new" championship the real champion, anyway. Even is Silva doesn't come back for a year, do you really think anyone will recognize Bisping or Weidman or anybody else at the "real" champ? No way in hell. They would be viewed as nothing more than an (wait for it.........) Interim Champ.
So again, what's the point?

so we should just let silva do what ever he wants, when ever he wants and defend his title when ever he chooses to even if that means taking over a year off to make a movie? and No if he does go this route he is not the most deserving to wear that belt. The most deserving is the guy who wears it and defends it atleast twice a year if not more. If silva takes off all 2013 the next time we will see a title defense will be over 18 months and thats if he fights in january of 2014. no way he should still be champ at that point. He wants to go a new route cool but to hold up the title for almost 2 years for it...no way.

That's all well and good, I understand the frustration. But it doesn't change the fact that if Weidman or your boy Bisping or anybody else were to capture the "new" MW title, nobody in their right mind is going to sit there and go "Well this guy has the belt, clearly he's the best!"
I mean if you want to strip Silva of the title just on principle and punish him for not fighting in the immediate future that's one thing. I'm just saying it's an empty concept to do so. It's based in symbolism, not reality.

Right, but nobody really considered Serra or Belfort the true champion either when they had the belts. I also don't see it as much different than when Frank Shamrock "retired" after cleaning everyone out. For a long time, people assumed the next champ wasn't the best fighter out there, but the UFC shouldn't just put a weight class on hold for more than a year while a guy decides to take a hiatus.

Well in fairness, Serra did beat the current champ, so he was justfiably the champ. That would not be the case here.
And I know everyone wants to keep keep clinging to the idea that he is holding up the division or the weight class is being put on hold, but that's a bit of an extreme way to put it, isn't it? That makes it seem like all the fighters are just standing around and doing nothing the entire time he is away; like there will be zero movement and action in the MW division, just because Silva is taking extended time off from defending the title.
Realistically, none of the contenders have a solid claim to the top spot, so it's not like there's one guy who is being forced to put his career on hold because of this.
This division needs to be sorted out a little, and there are currently no less than 3 game-changing fights scheduled throughout the next several months, anyway.
It's not like nothing important is going to be happening in the division simply because Silva is taking some time off.

http://girlfromthehills.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/gotcha.png




Oh snap here's a interview with segal and he is even saying Silva could be dethroned by Weidman or Bisping and feels it's in Silvas best interests to take time away from fighting. I thought Segal and Silva were supposed to be friends?

I see the argument of "fake title" alot... which the Interim kinda is. But thats why I suggested "Champion Emeritus" which is basically crowning Silva the Champion of Champions rather than taking anything away. This is what Vitali Klitschko did in boxing and came back after his short leave and destroyed everyone since.

Damnitt, can't get the link to work.
Can you post some of it?

Triggerman99 wrote:

Damnitt, can't get the link to work.
Can you post some of it?

lol

Why is that funny? I was being serious.
I'm gonna go ahead and just assume that the link was to something not at all what Gecko said it was, right?
LOL

Triggerman99 wrote:

Why is that funny? I was being serious.
I'm gonna go ahead and just assume that the link was to something not at all what Gecko said it was, right?
LOL

yeah, it's just a cat laughing and says gotcha. I was just trying to throw a little humor on the post thats all.

I took it hook, line and, sinker! lol

The page you linked to is blocked on my work computer, so when I clicked the link, I wasn't able to view it. So, I'm sitting here going "Well what did the article say? I really want to read it!!" Meanwhile, all you guys are sitting there laughing at my dumb ass because I'm the only one who didn't get the joke.

It's alright, it's alright......Yuck it up fellas!! I can handle it.

^^^^^^

well plus 1 for being a good sport about it.