Reports: McGregor to be stripped of title

Conor McGregor has been stripped of his UFC title.

That’s according to Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com, Anthony Johnson will no longer fight at UFC 206 and will sit out and wait for Daniel Cormier whilst the featherweight bout between Holloway and Pettis has been promoted to the main event and will be for the interim title.

If Holloway and Pettis are competing for the interim title, it means one of two things; McGregor will be stripped of his title, which he won against Jose Aldo eleven months ago… or Jose Aldo has retired and they need a new interim title holder in the meantime. There are no reports that either has yet happened but McGregor must be concerned over the news.

Firstly – would the UFC have made this decision if Cormier vs Johnson was still headlining this card? Probably not.

Secondly – Anthony Pettis who his currently 1-3 in his last four fights, could potentially be the interim champion after one fight at featherweight, over the likes of Frankie Edgar as well as even Ricardo Lamas and Cub Swanson.

You cannot complain about Holloway’s title credentials after going 9-0 in the last three years since losing to McGregor by decision.

It’s a hand the UFC have seemed to force upon themselves in the matter, bearing in mind they haven’t even announced that Daniel Cormier is injured yet.

I’m sure McGregor will have a lot to say on the matter as of course Jose Aldo previously didn’t defend his 145lb title for over a year through injury.

Fans appear to be happy with the decision to strip Conor McGregor of the title but surely the UFC should have taken more control over his fight schedule and either not let him rematch with Nate Diaz, which would have been ridiculous considering McGregor took the fight on short notice, or not let McGregor fight for the second title.

The UFC allowed this situation to happen and I think without the withdrawal of Daniel Cormier, they would not have announced this so soon after UFC 205.