Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Probably because he A) doesn’t deserve it and B) would get murdered.
UFC President Dana White saying something that is true and in many ways rational is front page news these days, including his recent admission that former two-division champion, Conor McGregor, is not eligible to compete for the 170-pound title.
That should come as no surprise when you consider that “Notorious” has not beaten a Top 5 welterweight and has no real claim to the strap held by Kamaru Usman, but when you can sell as many pay-per-view (PPV) buys as McGregor, the rules don’t always apply.
“Listen, the next title fight for Usman is going to be one of these guys: it’s gonna be Colby [Covington], [Jorge] Masvidal, [Leon] Edwards,” White told ESPN on Wednesday. “It’s going to be one of those guys. It’s not gonna be Conor McGregor.”
White once said that McGregor was too small to fight welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal and Usman is even larger than “Gamebred,” and a much more explosive wrestler, evidenced by his 25-minute thumping of Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 back in 2019.
That leaves the power-punching Irishman with a decision to make regarding his fighting future. Wait for the lightweight winner of Justin Gaethje vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, or stick around at 170 pounds for more fun fights like the one he enjoyed against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.