Interesting Idea: UFC Interim Middleweight belt?

Anderson Silva will miss the rest of 2009 due to elbow surgery, potentially putting the UFC middleweight division on hold for the next five months. The UFC could opt for a number one contender bout between Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt or they could go in a different direction.

MMAforReal recently promoted an interesting idea. Why not create an interim middleweight title? MMAforReal reader 3PA goes on to explain the reasoning behind the idea,

- It would give the UFC a really solid main event for a future card. (Ed. note: possibly for UFC 105)

- It gives a genuinely intriguing fight 5 rounds.

- It would paint Anderson into a corner; he basically has to face the winner and that's another good future main event right there.

- It would create some buzz in the MW division. Depth, hype and potential match-ups all considered, I deem the UFC MW division the least exciting out of all divisions.

Really an interim title would be the exact same thing as an number one contender bout except the winner gets a shiny belt and a fancy new title. While an interim champion could be seen as motivation for Anderson Silva the same could be said of a number one contender fight especially since Silva's camp called for this very thing.

Yet having Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt fight for an interim title could give the UFC a main event for UFC 105 in Manchester, England.

It's an interesting idea but probably won't happen.