In a new interview, Dana White has reaffirmed a previous claim that the upcoming fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 will be for the lightweight title, even though Conor McGregor is still officially the divisional champion.
“I said in the last press conference, that fight will be for the title,” White told TMZ. “It’s not for the interim title. That fight is for the title.”
The thing that’s been confusing people however is that White always stops short of saying that McGregor will be stripped of the title, but though that continues to be the case, he does broach the subject of how the Irish superstar feels about the division moving on without him for the time being.
“Is he upset? Conor understands. Conor made a lot of money. He wants some time off, but the division has to go on and the business has to go on.”
At this stage it’s unclear exactly when ‘The Notorious’ does intend to return to action, if at all, but White admits he would like to see him come back against the winner of the upcoming title bout.
“I’d like to see Conor fight the winner,” White admitted. “It was August and then September [that he was going to return]. I say it all the time, with that kind of money, Conor might never come back. It’s a lot of money.”
