Conor McGregor to be stripped of belt as Dana White announces Khabib vs Ferguson
White insisted that the show must go on, with or without McGregor, as it wasn't fair on the other fighters
CONOR MCGREGOR looks certain to be stripped of his UFC lightweight belt,.
That's after UFC president Dana White revealed that Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight for the 'real' lightweight title at UFC 223.
McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since he won the lightweight belt against Eddie Alvarez in November 2016 at UFC 205.
And his last fight was in a boxing ring against Floyd Mayweather Jr in August last year, when he lost in the 10th round via a TKO.
White remained coy when asked if McGregor was about to be stripped of his UFC lightweight strap at the UFC 222/ 223 press conference in Boston.
But did add: “I have no update, the winner of this fight will be the champion.”
White was pushed further by reporters, but responded with cryptic answers, but did note that he wasn’t sure if McGregor would actually fight again after his multi-million dollar boxing bout.
He said: “Leading into Mayweather fight, I made it pretty clear, I’ve been in this business for a very long time.
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"When you make an obscene amount of money like that, who knows if they’ll ever come back?”
White made it clear that the show must go on, with or without McGregor, he said: “Right now, with the position we’re in, Conor’s saying, ‘Maybe I’ll come back in August, maybe I’ll come back in September', Well, that’s almost two years. It’s not fair to the rest of the guys in the division.
“The division has to go on. These guys have been fighting their whole career. Everybody wants to get to that pinnacle and it’s the fair thing to do."
Referring to the Irishman not defending his belt, White shut the conversation down and said: “Listen, I take so much s**t for how much I like Conor McGregor and everything else, but the division has to go on.”
He reiterated that Ferguson and Nurmagomedov will fight for the 'real title' and McGregor can’t hold up the title for two years.
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson will meet on April 7 at UFC 223 in Brooklyn for the UFC lightweight title.
