Conor McGregor has not been stripped of his belt- at least that’s what UFC president Dana White says.
McGregor recently announced he was going to be a father, following his historic fight against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, where he captured the lightweight title, making him the first fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at once. During the same announcement, Conor revealed that he would be taking time off from fighting, 10 months to be exact, sparking rumors that he had been stripped of his belt.
“I’m going to be a daddy early next year,” McGregor said during the UFC 205 post-fight press conference on November 12. “I’m just going to have this baby, take a little bit of time, and see the way I feel after that.”
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Although McGregor remains the lightweight champion, he relinquished his featherweight titl e on November 27 so UFC 206 co-main eventers Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis could fight for the interim UFC featherweight championship on Saturday, December 10 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, MMA Weekly reports.
Because Conor relinquished his belt, many fans questioned whether or not he had actually been stripped of his belt by the UFC. However, White says that is simply not true.
“Conor McGregor is a very unique individual and very different. I let Conor be Conor. I let Conor do his thing. Everybody always thinks there’s some kind of animosity with me and Conor, there’s always something bad brewing. Listen, I don’t know how much more I can say it publicly how much I respect the guy, how different and special that he is, and everything else,” White said.
“I didn’t strip him of anything. I said every day leading up to that fight that he had to give up one of those belts,” he continued. “He gave up the 145-pound title, but it doesn’t take away from — He says that he’s still a two-weight champion. D**n right he is. He is a two-weight champion. It doesn’t take away from what that guy accomplished and what he’s done. When you look at the 145-pound title, he didn’t lose it. He gave it up. He was never beaten, and the belt was never taken from him.”
McGregor won the featherweight title in December, 2015, when he knocked out Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds at UFC 194. Since then, the title hasn’t been defended, which White said isn’t fair to the other fighters.
“That (featherweight) belt hadn’t been defended in almost a year, and Conor’s taking another ten months off for maternity. It’s not fair to the rest of the guys in that division,” White said. “You can’t tie up the entire division, but I did let him fight for it. I let him do it.”
In November, while speaking to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, White spoke highly of McGregor, and said he completely supported him taking time off to be with his family.
“His girl [Dee Devlin] gets super stressed out when he fights,” White said. “He doesn’t want her having any of that stress while she’s pregnant. He’s good. He should take time off. He’s been fighting nonstop. Nothing wrong with him taking time off. It’s good for him and her, and it’s good for the baby.”
Conor McGregor is expected to return to the UFC in September or October of 2017.
Do you think McGregor was stripped of his belt? Are you disappointed that he won’t be fighting for nearly a year? Leave your comments below.
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