Dana White confirms Conor McGregor will not be lightweight champion after UFC 223

"It's not fair to the other fighters."

UFC president Dana White has confirmed the fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 will be for the undisputed lightweight belt. The news was made official at a UFC press conference in Boston, ahead of this weekend's UFC 220 pay-per-view event in the city. White commented:

"I have no update. "The winner of this fight will be the champion."

That means that, on April 8 after the event is complete, either Ferguson or Nurmagomedov will be the promotion's 155lbs champion. That means McGregor will have been stripped of both the featherweight and lightweight belts he won, in 2015 and 2016. White stated 'we'll see what happens' after UFC 223 in Brooklyn and alluded to the fact that McGregor could yet take on the winner of that fight for the belt. Ferguson did state that he had been offered a fight with McGregor but 'The Notorious' was not interested. White said McGregor had spoken of a September return but that would have meant the lightweight division would have been held up, without its champion, for almost two years. "It's not fair on the rest of the division," he declared.