It's a farcical situation imo. Of course Wlad probably deserves the spot as he's defended his belt many times and tried to unify the division.

His brother coming back has thrown a wrench into things though. He won't ever unify of course, and will never fight his brother but if they were not related and could go up against each other, I have little doubt, that even at 38 Vitali beats the snot out of the younger Wladimir.