This happens quite often. I have a fighter who moves into the contention spots for, for example, the IBF champion. Nobody else is available to fight him. He has no fight planned. There is no other title involved, so it’s not blocked by requirements. My fighter is only able to challenge the IBF number 12 or lower.
Is this a deliberate thing, or a bug? Why won’t he fight me? I’ve found this especially happens with a dethroned champion, working his way back up to contention after losing his title. It becomes almost impossible to get another shot. I’ve had fighters win six more fights against top ten fighters in a row, yet their ranking still slides and the champion won’t fight them. Eventually they retire without ever getting the rematch, or age and damage taken get to them.
It’s very frustrating, why can an idle, uninjured champion ignore a proper contender in favour of no fight? It seems unrealistic, they’d be stripped of the title in real life.