Chael Sonnen gives every fighter who wants Conor McGregor stripped of his title a much-needed wake up call

The reason why Conor McGregor hasn't been stripped of his featherweight title yet is obvious, according to Chael Sonnen.

For any normal UFC champion, taking a third fight in a row away from your weight division would be enough to have your belt revoked, but Conor McGregor is no ordinary champion. After completing back-to-back welterweight bouts against Nate Diaz, "the Notorious" is set to take on Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt at UFC 205. Although he is yet to defend his featherweight crown, Dana White has made it clear that he will not be stripped of his title before fight night, but he will be forced to give up one of the titles if he beats "the Underground King" in New York. The decision to allow Conor McGregor to keep his belt was met with some backlash from certain fighters on the promotion's roster, but as Chael Sonnen bluntly put it on Beyond the Fight, these guys are 'idiots'.

"I've never heard anybody come out and speak on Conor's behalf and say he ought to be able to hold that belt. I'm sure there's people who think that, but I've never heard anyone say it - from the media to the TV, I've never heard anyone say it." "Now we've got fighters in weight classes that have no standing in this matter, who I imagine is just coming from a standpoint of jealousy, and they're saying, 'You should strip him. Gotta strip him, gotta move that division on.'"

https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/786497996238229506 Sonnen, who recently made a high-profile move to the UFC's biggest competitor Bellator, is blown away at the fact that people aren't grasping why McGregor is allowed to keep his belt. For him it's simple, a potential history-making fight involving McGregor is better business than your bog-standard Red Panty Night.

"I can't believe people don't understand this who are in the industry. To acknowledge how dumb fighters are, and I'm not trying to insult them, there's just not another word out there - they're dumb. To understand a fighter's lack of understanding of the business standpoint - how important media partners are and understanding what a promoter - they don't get it." "I'll take the mask off and I'll tell you guys what's going on here. There's a historic opportunity if Conor beats Eddie Alvarez. The opportunity is that he will be the first guy in history to hold two world championships simultaneously in the UFC. It has never happened before." 

The American Gangster believes that if the UFC were to strip McGregor now, the only purpose it would serve would be to shoot themselves in the foot allowing them to watching fountains of cash come spurting out of the wound. https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_UK/status/781224461651456000 Sonnen puts all the calls for McGregor to have his belt revoked down to jealousy. He feels that even if fighters are only acting out of selfishness, speaking out to get McGregor's belt taken off him would be the worst move they could possibly make. In typical Sonnnen fashion, he closed his piece with one last insult, although he claimed it wasn't actually meant as one. However, it's difficult to perceive the word 'idiot' as anything other than an insult... unless, of course, you're an idiot.