Interim championship

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An interim championship is an alternate title that is awarded by the sanctioning bodies of professional boxing, and in other combat sports such as kickboxing, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts.

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Occasionally, the champion of a particular weight division is temporarily unable to defend their championship because of medical, legal, or other reasons beyond the competitor's control. When this case occurs, two highly ranked contenders may fight for an interim championship of the same weight division – leading to two champions existing in the same weight division simultaneously. Once the original champion can return, at the discretion of the sanctioning body or promotion concerned, they must defend their title against the interim champion - who will relinquish their interim title to fight for the full world title. If the original champion cannot return, refuses to defend their title, or transfers to a different weight division, the interim champion is promoted to full championship status.

In the case of professional wrestling, due to the entertainment and scripted nature of the sport, an interim championship is rarely used, as most reasons – while similar to the ones in combat sports that are sometimes beyond the wrestler's control – usually lead to the champion being stripped of the title and a new champion is determined. One example of an interim champion was on WWE's NXT brand, where NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin could not travel to the United States to defend the title due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, rendering him only able to defend the title on NXT's UK brand at the time. Therefore, in the United States, an interim Cruiserweight Championship was created and won in a tournament by Santos Escobar. Once travel restrictions eased up, Devlin and Escobar fought in a unification match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to determine the sole champion, which Escobar won. [1] [2] All Elite Wrestling (AEW) utilized the concept of interim championships for a time by crowning the winners of Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the interim AEW World Championship, [3] Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida for the interim AEW Women's World Championship, [4] and Sammy Guevara vs. Dustin Rhodes for the interim AEW TNT Championship. [5]

Current interim champions

As of January 15,2025

Professional boxing
Sanctioning bodyWeight ClassChampion
IBFNo current interim champions
WBASuper Middleweight Caleb Plant
Super Featherweight Albert Batyrgaziev
Super Bantamweight Murodjon Akhmadaliev
Bantamweight Antonio Vargas
Super Flyweight David Jiménez
WBCLight Heavyweight David Benavidez
Super Welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Lightweight William Zepeda
Flyweight Galal Yafai
WBOHeavyweight Joseph Parker
Light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi
Super Welterweight Terence Crawford
Mixed martial arts
PromotionWeight ClassChampion
Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight Tom Aspinall
Cage Warriors FeatherweightPaul Hughes
Deep Bantamweight Coro
Eagle Fighting Championship FeatherweightRasul Magomedov
Extreme Fighting Championship LightweightAlain Ilunga
Shooto Flyweight Junji Ito

See also

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References

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  2. Moore, John (April 8, 2021). "NXT Takeover Stand & Deliver results: Moore's live review of night two with Finn Balor vs. Karrion Kross for the NXT Championship, Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly in an unsanctioned match, Santos Escobar vs. Jordan Devlin in a ladder match to unify the NXT Cruiserweight Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
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  5. McGuire, Colin (2022-01-08). "1/8 AEW Battle of the Belts results: McGuire's review of Britt Baker vs. Riho for the AEW Women's Championship, Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara for the Interim TNT Championship, Ricky Starks vs. Matt Sydal for the FTW Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 2023-08-04.