By Shawn Smith

There was a time not so many moons ago that capturing a UFC championship meant the world to a mixed martial artist. While it remains the pinnacle accomplishment available to MMA fighters, a UFC championship's worth seems to have gone by the wayside.

The latest example of course is Germaine de Randamie and the UFC women's featherweight championship. After outpointing Holly Holm in February for the championship, it appeared that a superfight between de Randamie and Cris "Cyborg" Justino could be in the works.

Instead, de Randamie made clear through a series of social media statements that she has no plans to continue fighting at featherweight, likely returning to bantamweight for her next bout.

Of course, Holm is also headed back down to bantamweight after competing for the 145lb. bout; she's scheduled to face Betha Correia in Singapore on June 17.

If you feel duped by the UFC and their miserable, lackluster attempt at a UFC women's featherweight division, you're not alone. There were many pundits who claimed the bout between Holm and De Randamie was made a title fight just to sell pay-per-views when other main events fell through. Recent evidence, include both champion and challenger fighting only once at 145 pounds and the lack of signed talent for the division (they've signed exactly zero fighters to fight for the division since its inauguration) are telling signs that the promotion is not committed to the division.

There's little reason to believe they ever were.


Photo credit: Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports

The UFC has used their championship belts as pawns in the pay-per-view game, giving title shots to whatever flavor of the month arrives on the scene. It was in March that they announced welterweight legend Georges St. Pierre would challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC's middleweight title. Keep in mind that St. Pierre had been effectively retired since November of 2013 and, oh yeah, he's never fought at middleweight in his entire career (the bout has since been scrapped due to injury).

The announcement didn't sit right with fans or fighters, all of which unanimously groaned at the UFC again putting a one night pay-per-view sale over the rankings, which the UFC has consistently claimed are there for the purpose of deciding which fighters will receive title shots.

This obviously isn't a new issue; there are many examples of similar stories in recent years. Chael Sonnen received a world title shot against Jon Jones, jumping the light-heavyweight pack simply because he's good on a microphone. Nick Diaz received a world title shot in 2013 against Georges St-Pierre after losing a unanimous decision loss to Carlos Condit.


Photo Credit: © Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

None of this even mentions the free wheeling manner in which the UFC has tossed around interim world titles. If a world champion gets as much as a cold, it seems as though the company rushes an interim world title bout simply for the sake of making a quick buck on pay-per-view. We still don't know why some divisions have an interim title and others don't. There is no formula for the decision making.

World titles never meant more than money in MMA, don't get me wrong. This is called prizefighting for a reason. But there used to be an intense pride that came along with holding one of the most elusive prizes in combat sports.

The UFC can no longer sell a pay-per-view simply because it's a title fight, the sport has become more and more about the names involved. There are pay-per-view stars and non pay-per-view stars.

While the UFC has been able to cash in on interim world title fights and faux world championships, what they've done is degrade the meaning of a world title. MMA used to look down its nose at boxing and their variety of world champions in each division. Now MMA is trending in the same direction.