Conor is still the UFC lightweight champion for the foreseeable future…
Despite rumors to the contrary, the UFC will not be stripping Conor McGregor of his lightweight championship. That is they won’t be stripping him of the title in time for Tony Ferguson to defend his interim belt against Khabib Nurmagomedov, anyway.
Many were hoping Conor would be stripped of the title in time for Khabib vs. Tony to be for the official championship. Despite a Russian media outlet publishing a report yesterday indicating Conor would be stripped in time, indications today are that is not the case.
The UFC sent out a media release earlier today to announce a press conference on Friday to promote Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov and referred to the bout as being for the INTERIM championship.
Dana White had previously stated that if Conor doesn’t fight before September, he would be stripped of the belt.
Well the UFC just announced a press conference this Friday with Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, and in the process announced that the INTERIM champ will defend his interim belt at #UFC223 in Brooklym.
— Mike Allardyce (@mikedyce) January 18, 2018
While things could still change, it appears UFC is running with the idea that the lightweight fight at UFC 223 will be for the interim belt only.
Dana White Statements on Stripping Conor
Many were expecting Conor to be stripped based on statements Dana White made recently.
“Conor has said he’s thinking about coming back in September,” White said. “If he comes back in September, that’s almost two years – that can’t happen. It’s not fair to everybody else.
“Love Conor, respect Conor, love everything that he’s done for this company, everybody knows that, I say it all the time. The belt would have to move on.
“You do Khabib vs. Tony, we’re working on that fight now. If and when Conor comes back, he would get the first crack at the title.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd_EdP0nt_W/?hl=en&taken-by=thenotoriousmma
INTERIM Lightweight Championship
That Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson will be for the interim championship only will not make Khabib’s manager very happy. He previously had this to say regarding the possibility of his fighter’s next bout being for an interim championship:
“Khabib’s next fight, we’re not fighting for no damn interim belt,” Abdelaziz said. “We want the real belt, or we don’t want nothing. We appreciate everything the UFC has done for us, but it’s time for a real belt. Nobody is interested in fighting for a fake belt. Tony Ferguson has a fake belt. Nobody wants this.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd6MrKlj6dm/?hl=en&taken-by=tonyfergusonxt
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson UFC 223
We were originally supposed to get this fight at UFC 209 but Khabib had to be taken to hospital during his weight cut, forcing the bout’s cancellation. He was later seen eating tiramisu and the Internet lost its mind.
Since then Khabib has taken a new approach to weight-cutting and has even said he could drop to featherweight. He easily made weight for his bout against Edson Barboza, and had this to say leading up to the fight:
“I feel great. My weight is very good,” Nurmagomedov said. “To be honest, I am thinking about next fight maybe I am going to 145. We are thinking about this. I am focused on Barboza, but we’ll see — maybe 145. We gonna see, with my team, we gonna see first how I feel Friday morning. We’ll see. We’re gonna make weight.
