UFC Want To Strip Conor McGregor’s145lb Title; Holloway Vs Pettis For Interim Belt

Dana White talks to Conor McGregor

A new rumor has emerged that the UFC are preparing to strip Conor McGregor of his featherweight title.

That’s the word according to MMAfighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, who also suggests that this would result in Jose Aldo being installed as the new champion, and the forthcoming UFC 206 bout between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis being upgraded to interim featherweight title status.

“As of now, plan is Anthony Pettis vs. Max Holloway for the interim 145 lbs. title happening 12/10 in Toronto. That’s what the UFC wants,” Helwani wrote on Twitter. “That’s per multiple sources. Should they finalize it, & it’s close, Jose Aldo would become the new 145 lbs champ. McGregor? That’s, well…UFC has been pushing to strip McGregor of the 145 title for some time. Legally, they can. Would be interesting to see how he responds.”

Currently the UFC are stuck between a rock and a hard place regarding the UFC 206 event in Toronto, Canada on December 10th after light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier pulled out of his title fight with Anthony Johnson due to an injury.

It’s believed that the UFC were looking to bring in Gegard Mousasi to fight Johnson, but ‘Rumble’ has indicated that he wants to sit out until he gets his title shot with DC.

So, UFC 206 remains without a main event just a couple of weeks out from the show, and promoting the co-main event between Pettis and Holloway could be a way to raise the stakes if they are considering installing it as the new headliner.

The plan all along had been for McGregor to give up one of his two titles if he won the lightweight belt at UFC 205 earlier this month, but up until this point he has stayed quiet on the matter and so have the UFC.

Something had to be done about it though, particularly with McGregor now expected to be out until at least May due to the birth of his first child.

The fact that they’ve let McGregor remain the 145lb title holder despite the fact that a year later he’s never made an attempt to defend it gives some indication of how much power the Irishman wields within the company, but there’s limits to what even he can get away with.

It remains to be seen how ‘The Notorious’ would react to such a move by the UFC, but if it did happen there would still be plenty of options out there for him, whether it be a lightweight title defense against the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov or Tony Ferguson, or a move up to welterweight to fight Tryon Woodley for the 170lbs title.

Meanwhile, Aldo would be able to fight the winner of Holloway vs Pettis to unify the 145lb titles early in 2017, finally getting the top end of that division up and running properly again.

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.