“There’s a logjam there and a lot of guys were angry.”
Conor McGregor is no longer the UFC featherweight champion, that much is certain. However, the way he lost the belt he won against Jose Aldo last December isn’t quite as clear.
Last week, the promotion said the fighter, who won the lightweight title against Eddie Alvarez last month, had “relinquished” his featherweight title. However, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani said the word from McGregor’s camp was that the fighter didn’t agree with the decision to lose the belt.
McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh appeared to back up the suggestions that the decision wasn’t a mutual one between the UFC and the fighter, and now Dana White has had his say.
'McGregor said the UFC would need an army. In the end, all they needed was a live broadcast announcement' https://t.co/gJxwrBCQc2
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 27, 2016
The UFC president told Yahoo Sports that McGregor agreed with the decision, and that his coach is “misinformed” on the matter.
“Yeah, he (Kavanagh) doesn’t know all that has gone on, I guess. Do you think I just did this? This was Conor’s decision.”
White said there was a “logjam” at 145lbs, and McGregor lost the title in order to keep other fighters in the division happy.
“Look, I let Conor fight [Nate] Diaz and then I let him fight Diaz again,” White said about McGregor’s two fights at welterweight earlier this year.
“Then there was the whole 155-pound thing I let him do. But at the end of the day, him doing that tied up the division for a year. There’s a logjam there and a lot of guys were angry.”
“This was my way to fix the logjam. I wanted Aldo to fight (Max) Holloway for the belt, but he needed more time. So, I looked at it and I said, ‘well, it makes sense to make Aldo the champion and then have Holloway and (Anthony) Pettis fight for the interim title, and when Jose’s ready, barring any crazy injuries, the winner can fight him’.”
Inevitably, White was asked about McGregor being granted a boxing licence in California, and the potential superfight between the Dubliner and retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The UFC president doesn’t seem too worried that he’s about to lose his biggest star to boxing.
Does McGregor know more than we think? https://t.co/Sqs3PNe71H
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 1, 2016
“I have no idea what Conor is doing. Conor’s Conor,” White said.
“He does his thing. But he’s under contract to me. Who knows with this guy? Who knows what he is up to.
“I just let Conor be Conor. And the other thing is, it’s fun to talk about this fight and what might happen, but what commission would let that fight happen? Really, think about that.”
