UFC News: Conor McGregor's coach reacts to him being stripped of the featherweight title
The UFC has found itself in a very odd predicament after losing its main event at UFC 206, as UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was forced out of his title defence against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson due to injury.
This would force the UFC to strip Conor McGregor of his featherweight title, promote interim champ Jose Aldo to the undisputed champion, and make the high-powered featherweight bout between Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis and Max Holloway at UFC 206 an interim featherweight title main event for the Toronto fans.
McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh recently reacted to this on Irish Radio stating that the UFC’s decision to strip his fighter was a ‘short sighted’ one:
"They felt they had to make this for a title in order for it to sell so they brought in another interim title that Jose Aldo already has and then bumped Jose Aldo up to the current undisputed champion. Which just seems ridiculous to me," Kavanagh said.
"It has only been 11 months since Conor won that title. There have been many, many examples of fighters waiting 15 months, 18 months before defending it. He’s at 11 months and they stripped him of it. I thought it was very shortsighted by the UFC how they went about doing it."
McGregor won the 145-pound title after downing former undisputed champ Jose Aldo in their main event meeting at UFC 194 last December, with a vicious counter left hand to the Brazilian’s chin in just 13 seconds for the fastest title fight finish in UFC history.
McGregor would then embark on his journey to becoming the promotion’s first dual weight champion but would be road blocked by Nate Diaz and their welterweight feud that lasted over a span of five months.
Also read: UFC News: Jose Aldo says he knew that Conor McGregor would relinquish his belt; wants rematch
Now that ‘The Notorious One’ has gotten back to business and captured UFC’s lightweight title to make history as the first dual-weight class champion, he is expected to take some time off to focus on the birth of his first child.
When McGregor decides to return to Octagon action, it would be interesting to see whether he defends his lightweight title first or goes back after the featherweight title that was taken from him.
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