Interim Heavyweight Champ Could be Ongoing

Dana White said in his UFC 80 post fight news conference that he still considers Randy Couture the heavyweight champ and that the fight between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Nogueira will most definitely be for the interim heavyweight title.

When asked about subsequent fights White stated that they all will in fact be 'interim' champs. He's still hell bent on Couture being the champ, and he's not injured so he should be defending the actual title.

The actual quote was, "It's out of my hands," White said. "He's got a half million of my money. He can fight. He can fight if he wants to. We'll keep it (an interim title) forever. Believe me, we'll hold on forever."

We know that Dana White will never let his fighters become bigger than him or the UFC but he's taking away the integrity of the heavyweight title. While the division is lackluster, there should be a certain amount of pride when a fighter can say, "I'm the heavyweight champion of the UFC."

Dana White has said he believes that MMA is such a big draw because the roots of the sport are still pure. But how pure can it be when he's already stating that the next heavyweight champion won't be the heavyweight champion?

White is a marketing genius who salvaged a bankrupt company and turned it into a huge product and he doesn't appear to be stopping or even slowing down anytime soon. However, there's going to be a point in time when the inmates just might start to run the asylum if the company continues to show signs of being run like a dictatorship.