UFC News: Conor McGregor gives up UFC Featherweight Title

Conor McGregor won the UFC Lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, thus becoming the first person to become a simultaneous two-division champion in the UFC. Conor posed with the belts and took them both home with him, putting to rest any speculations about being asked to surrender one right after the fight.

The UFC has now taken the Featherweight title away from Conor McGregor, however.

While he remains the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion, the undisputed UFC Featherweight Championship has gone back to Jose Aldo, who had cemented his status as the interim champion after his defeat at the hands of McGregor. Aldo had defeated Frankie Edgar at UFC 200.

The news was announced on the broadcast of UFC Fight Night. Here’s the video, posted by UFC Europe confirming that McGregor has given up the featherweight belt:

#ICYMI: @TheNotoriousMMA relinquishes his featherweight belt! https://t.co/8UVq3Cv1Rv
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) November 27, 2016

Right after it was announced that Conor McGregor would be fighting Eddie Alvarez for a shot at being the first two-divisional champion, questions had been raised about the plausibility of one fighter holding up two divisions by being a simultaneous champion.

Also read: 5 fights that the UFC must make in 2017

Dana White, at the time, had sternly responded to such questions by stating that Conor McGregor would have to give up one of the two belts in the event of him winning at UFC 205. Something which Conor continued to counter, even saying that Dana White and the UFC would require an ‘army’ to take the belts off of him.

He had softened his stance later, however, asking for some time with the two belts for his photo shoots before he could give one up.

McGregor ended up doing exactly that as he walked around with his two belts, posed for the cameras and gave interviews. Here’s one such interview that he gave to Megan Olivi after the fight:

With McGregor giving up the UFC Featherweight title, it is clear that he’s done with the division at least for the foreseeable future. What the future holds for Conor McGregor is a question that still remains to be answered but the 155-pound division has several contenders willing to face him for the championship.

At the top of that list is Khabib Nurmagomedov, the undefeated Russian is currently the #1 contender for the title. Closely following him is Tony Ferguson, and the two might clash before one of them gets to face McGregor for the title.

If rumours, as well as McGregor’s coach Kavanagh are to be believed, McGregor’s next fight might be the trilogy fight to finish off his rivalry with Nate Diaz. Another name that is being talked about is Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who McGregor might face in an attempt to become a two-division champion yet again.

With Jose Aldo now being the undisputed Featherweight champion again, the match between Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway for UFC 206 has been elevated to now being for the interim championship and has been made the main event of the evening. The winner of the match will get a title shot against Aldo at a future UFC event.

We’ll keep you updated with developments on this story and we’ll see how Conor McGregor responds to this.

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