Conor McGregor doesn't seem to think he'll be giving up anything after UFC 223.
The current UFC Lightweight Champion in McGregor is set to be "stripped" of the title he won in 2016 after over a year of inactivity. A new champion will be crowned at this weekend's UFC 223 main event between Featherweight Champion Max Holloway and Khabib Nurmagomedov, which is hardly as simple as that complicated explanation has made it seem.
Holloway is facing a tough weight cut, and the aforementioned Nurmagomedov traditionally has had issues with weight cutting in the past. Holloway actually replaced the current Interim UFC Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson, who won the title in 2017, but was forced to withdraw from UFC 223 due to injury.
Conor McGregor chimed in on the situation early Thursday morning.
As if that wasn't confusing enough, the UFC have been playing the hokey pokey with Ferguson's status as "interim" champion. While stating that once the fight takes place the UFC 223 main event will be the "Undisputed" champion, UFC President Dana White has said that Ferguson's interim title will "go away," before later saying that he would keep his championship despite a torn knee ligament.
“We’re not stripping Tony Ferguson,” White said. “Tony Ferguson isn’t being stripped. The only person here who is losing a belt is Conor. Conor’s losing the belt, these two are fighting for the belt.”
McGregor has been inactive in MMA since 2016, as he jumped over to the world of boxing in order to pursue a superfight against undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather. After losing that fight, McGregor has taken time off, with White claiming that he'll return later in 2018.
UFC 223 will see live coverage from Fightful.com, as well as a live, post-show podcast.
