Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight champion Conor McGregor will attempt to make history at the UFC 197 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which takes place on March 5, 2016 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
To do so, he must defeat reigning lightweight kingpin Rafael dos Anjos and become the first mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter under the ZUFFA banner to simultaneously hold titles in two different weight classes. With that in mind, “Notorious” is outraged that “his” UFC 197 poster does not reflect the historical significance of his latest endeavor.
From Wednesday’s press conference (via CBS Las Vegas):
“This is a super fight. I look upon that poster, I see myself tucked in the back there. That’s what I just noticed, where is my damn belt? Where are all these historic images? These are posters that will be looked back on long after it’s all said and done and you’ve got to look back on that absolute garbage. So you know, I think I might have to go into that department because they must be getting comfortable in that poster department. They wanna get their act together and start doing their damn job. [Dos Anjos] fought on free TV. He’s never brought a dime to the company, he’s never made a dime yet there he is sitting on the front of my poster.”
UFC President Dana White had a perfectly reasonable explanation.
McGregor is moving up in weight and the featherweight title will not be on the line, therefore there is no reason to feature it on the official event poster. The only problem with that rationale, is that UFC went and gave BJ Penn his strap when he tried to accomplish a similar feat at UFC 94.
See the “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2” poster here.
I’m sure future marketing materials will prominently display the Irishman’s 145-pound strap, because there is no rift between McGregor and UFC and everything is hunky-dory.