
After UFC 205, two-weight world champion Conor McGregor had even more on his plate. Following his breakthrough win over Jose Aldo in 2015, it was clear the UFC wanted to promote their biggest star.
In a strange twist of events, McGregor actually turned out to be trouble for the UFC. Perhaps they weren’t aware that once they got his train rolling, it would be very hard to halt. It was right around UFC 200 where a standoff between McGregor and the UFC started.

Star Power
‘The Notorious’ refused to attend a UFC 200 press conference, and so was pulled from the event all together. Even though he was coming off a loss, McGregor’s star power was still astronomical.
In the most popular Tweet in sports history, the Irishman claimed he was retiring young. The tension between McGregor and the UFC eventually wore off, and he was booked for the Nate Diaz rematch at UFC 202. Now it seems the rift is back.

Stripped
Defeating Alvarez in a blaze of glory in New York, McGregor would go on to announce a six-month break from fighting. Had the UFC allowed him to retain both belts, this would not be the longest a title had gone undefended for.
Maybe the unfortunate circumstances surrounding UFC 206 contributed, but the promotion suddenly forced the belt from McGregor’s grasp. Although he’d not lost at featherweight, the Irish star was stripped of the 145-pound belt.
Finally, four days after the fact, McGregor’s camp has broken their silence:
Disappointed
Conor McGregor’s log time coach and head of SBG Ireland John Kavanagh reacts to his student being stripped of the belt:
“It was more the UFC (who decided),” Kavanagh said in an appearance at the Red FM breakfast show. “For me personally, I was very disappointed with how they went about doing it.”
“It was a very messy set of circumstances which led to doing it,” Kavanagh said. “They lost a main event and then they haphazardly threw together a new main event.”
“They felt they had to make this for a title in order for it to sell so they brought in another interim title that Jose Aldo already has and then bumped Jose Aldo up to the current undisputed champion. Which just seems ridiculous to me.”
“Conor has only been 11 months since he won that title,” he said. “There have been many, many examples of fighters waiting 15 months, 18 months before defending it. He’s 11 months and they stripped him of it.”
“I thought it was very shortsighted by the UFC how they went about doing it.”