If Conor McGregor beats Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, Dana White claims the Irishman will be forced to ‘give up’ one of the titles.
Conor McGregor is looking to make history at UFC 205. ‘The Notorious’ captured featherweight gold last year and will look to seize the lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden.
McGregor, who knocked out Jose Aldo in just thirteen seconds at UFC 194, will challenge 155-pound champion Eddie Alvarez on Nov 12, and the Irishman has already made plans to defend both belts in the future.
“I’m going to wrap one on one shoulder, I’m going to wrap the other on the other shoulder, and you’re going to need a (expletive) army to come take them belts off me,” McGregor said at last month’s New York press conference.
UFC president Dana White, however, says the SBG Ireland product will be forced to give up one of the belts if he’s victorious at UFC 205.
“If he wins, he’ll hold two belts,” White said on the latest edition of UFC Tonight (h/t Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie). “Then he’ll decide which one he wants to give back to me. He can’t hold both. He’ll have accomplished this. Then he’ll have to figure out which one he wants to give up. He can’t hold up two divisions.”
McGregor became a two-division champion in UK MMA promotion Cage Warriors in 2012, finishing Dave Hill and Ivan Buchinger to capture both the featherweight and lightweight titles. McGregor never defended a title, however, and the 28-year-old has come under criticism for not defending his UFC 145-pound belt.
Since dethroning Aldo, McGregor immediately announced his plans to conquer the lightweight division in an effort to become the promotion’s first simultaneous two-division champion.
McGregor will get his chance to become perhaps the biggest MMA figure of all-time when he takes on Alvarez in a champion vs. champion superfight at UFC 205. The highly anticipated pay-per-view takes place on November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York.