5 interim UFC champions who failed to unify the titles

#4 Carlos Condit – interim UFC welterweight champion

Carlos Condit failed to unseat Georges St. Pierre in their UFC welterweight title unification bout

The UFC’s welterweight division was one of its steadiest for years, with champions like Pat Miletich and Matt Hughes going on lengthy title reigns. That didn’t change when Georges St. Pierre claimed the UFC welterweight title in 2008.

GSP started as an interim champ himself after beating Hughes, but managed to unify the titles by stopping reigning champ Matt Serra at UFC 83. From there, he turned back all challengers.

By 2011, St. Pierre had reeled off six straight title defenses and was expected to make his seventh against Carlos Condit at UFC 137.

However, a knee injury sidelined him, and when the injury was revealed to be more serious than initially expected, the UFC booked Condit into an interim title fight with Nick Diaz at UFC 143.

Condit duly outpointed Diaz in what was one of the more controversial fights of 2012, claiming UFC gold for the first time in his career. But before he could defend his interim title, St. Pierre was back – meaning the UFC could set up a unification bout.

Despite GSP coming back from over a year on the shelf, the Canadian survived a third-round onslaught to eventually grind down and outpoint Condit, ensuring he remained the undisputed champion.

On this day in 2012, Georges St-Pierre out-landed Carlos Condit 71-36 in significant strikes and landed 7 takedowns in a unanimous decision win.Despite losing the fight, Condit became just the second fighter to ever score a knockdown against GSP in the octagon. pic.twitter.com/bGqi9Dsin7

— MMA By The Numbers (@NumbersMMA) November 17, 2020

Despite his failure to unify the titles, Condit gained plenty of respect for his performance – which would be recognized as his high point in the UFC.

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#3 Shane Carwin – interim UFC heavyweight champion

Despite his best efforts, Shane Carwin came up short in his attempt to unify the UFC heavyweight titles against Brock Lesnar

Then-UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar’s battle with diverticulitis in late 2009 meant he had to face another interim champion in 2010. Lesnar had been pegged to fight Shane Carwin at UFC 106 that November, but was forced out due to the disease, with a return date unknown.

This meant that the UFC could crown an interim champion. Evidently, they were hoping it would be Frank Mir again, as a trilogy fight with Lesnar likely would’ve outdone even UFC 100 in terms of a pay-per-view buyrate.

However, when it came to it, Mir couldn’t defeat Carwin. The two giants clashed at UFC 111, and Carwin – arguably the heaviest hitter in the division – destroyed Mir with the bricks that he called fists, becoming the interim champ in the process.

The unification fight took place just four months later at UFC 116. Early on, it looked like Carwin’s heavy hands would take him all the way to the undisputed title. He battered Lesnar in the opening round to the point where many referees would’ve stopped the fight.

Jul3.2010After nearly being finished in the 1st round,Brock Lesnar makes a comeback & finishes Shane Carwin to keep his UFC Heavyweight title pic.twitter.com/yoBx5xvf8g

— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) July 3, 2020

Josh Rosenthal chose to let it go though, allowing Lesnar to survive. As the two fighters headed back to their corners, it was clear who the fresher man was.

Carwin looked exhausted, sucking in enough air to deprive the front row of oxygen. Sure enough, Lesnar tackled him to the ground in the opening seconds of the second round, and applied an arm-triangle choke to submit him.

The win cemented Lesnar as the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion – and left Carwin, who failed to unify the titles, rueing what could’ve been.