Antonio Nogueira and Forrest Griffin UFC Paper Champs

Praises have been given out left and right for UFC 92's fallen champions. But if you take a deeper look at the champs that lost, you might find that the pats on the back are not deserving.

We live in a day and age when second place is not good enough and trying your best only make you the first loser. But this is not the harshness that I am referring to. The fight game is all about giving credit where credit is due...but this can not be found with the Griffin and Nogueira fights.

There are plenty of reasons why you should look down on the performances at UFC 92. First and foremost, you're not a true champ unless you successfully defend your title.

This is where you throw all past achievements out the window. Like it or not, this adage places Griffin and Nogueira in the same shadow as flash in the pan champions Matt Serra, Vito Belfort, and Carlos Newton. But that's not all, there's more.

Can't See the Forrest through the Zs

The Zs aren't in reference to his fighting style, as we all love his pace, but how he laid on the canvas and ate leather.

Forrest was coming off a controversial title win over Rampage Jackson, which should've meant a convincing and impressive win over Rashad Evans to silence any critics.

And as the first two rounds went by we thought that would be the case. Errr...nope. Somewhere after the bell sounded for Round Two, Forrest went into la-la land, threw a lazy kick, and caught a fist for his lack of effort. A minute later, he was eating punches and soon after was declared the former light heavyweight champ of the world.

With a controversial victory to win the belt and failing to defend the strap, Forrest Griffin will always be a paper champ unless he can prove elsewise.

Antonio Rongway Nogueira

Someone should've told Nogueira that he was going the wrong way with his fight plan. Yeah, we know he's tough and can take a beating but does that mean he should let Frank Mir use his head as a punching bag?

If you look at the list of the greats in the heavyweight division, Nogueira has a W beside all of the names he's faced (with the exception of Fedor). But that list can be thrown out the window as far as the UFC is concern.

The past is nothing more than that, the past. It gives you credibility as far as who you are worthy of matching up against, but that's it.

Nogueira cannot be considered a worthy UFC champ because he put a beating on a bunch of people in Pride.

Take a look at his fights in the UFC. He's 2-1 with one victory coming over Heath Herring, spare. And his second victory comes by way of submission over a declining Tim Sylvia. And that's after Sylvia was dominating the fight. Had Sylvia not given Nog his neck we would not be singing his praises.

But he did, which enabled him to earn the Interim title belt. Interim meaning for the time being. As in not the real deal. As in I'm just keeping the belt warm until the legit champ comes along.

Before his bout with Mir people where already claiming he was going to destroy Lesnar (the true heavyweight champ). And two rounds of being man-handled by Mir showed us that Nog is more hype than anything else.

It's time to forget about the paper champ and give credit to the real champs. Those who've defended their belts and prove worthy of such acclaim: Anderson Silva, B.J. Penn and George St. Pierre.