Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik to fight at UFC 249, but not for the interim heavyweight title 

Although the original idea behind having an interim title is to have an acting champion in the division during the absence of the actual titleholder, but sometimes organizations use the title to market high-profile matchups like we saw in the case of the upcoming blockbuster clash between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, which is set to go down on may 9 in the headliner of UFC 249.

Although reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov had to pull out of the championship fight in the main event of UFC 249 against Ferguson amid the ongoing pandemic due to an ongoing flight ban in Russia, he has stated that he will be back in the Octagon by September.

September is a few months away and frankly, we won't need a new champion to keep the 155lb division running until then, but the promotion is still going ahead with the interim title fight for the sake of good business.

Interim champion is the need of the hour, says Ngannou

UFC 220: Miocic v Ngannou

In the case of heavyweight contenders Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who are also set to lock horns inside the Octagon on may 9, there's no such luck although there's good enough reason for that fight to have the interim title on the line. Well, it's a funny business, ain't it? The fight game.

Reigning heavyweight champ, Stipe Miocic has not fought since winning back the title from former champion Daniel Cormier last August and he is currently recovering from an eye injury he suffered during the fight, therefore he isn't coming back anytime soon. Speaking to MMA Fighting recently, Ngannou said that it's almost a year since there was a title fight in the division and an interim champion is the need of the hour.

“We even requested [an interim title] to the UFC, but actually they weren’t interested in all that. The fact is nobody knows when it’s going to be decided for the title in the heavyweight division again. It’s soon going to be one year, which is something very frustrating and makes me [not] want to think about it.”