Dana White Says UFC Could ‘Absolutely’ Strip Conor McGregor Of Title

UFC president Dana White broke down his reaction to last night’s (Sun., January 14, 2017) UFC Fight Night 124 from St. Louis during the post-fight show on FOX Sports 1, but the discussion not surprisingly shifted to the messy lightweight title landscape as champion Conor McGregor sits on the bench with no return in view. As interim champion […]

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UFC president Dana White broke down his reaction to last night’s (Sun., January 14, 2017) UFC Fight Night 124 from St. Louis during the post-fight show on FOX Sports 1, but the discussion not surprisingly shifted to the messy lightweight title landscape as champion Conor McGregor sits on the bench with no return in view.

As interim champion Tony Ferguson heals from elbow surgery, the future of the storied 155-pound class was only made more confusing when Khabib Nurmagomedov ran over Edson Barboza at December 30, 2017’s UFC 219. The performance was so dominant it reminded fights fan everywhere just why “The Eagle” was considered quite possibly the toughest out in the class, with only his only injuries and weight-cutting issues preventing him from hoisting the belt.

So as McGregor mulls his next move that will reportedly require a promoter’s share of the profit, White said that if McGregor waits until this fall to step into the octagon, the weight class would have to move on, so they’re working on Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov, and it may be for the real championship:

“Conor has said he’s thinking about coming back in September, if he comes back in September, that’s almost two years. That can’t happen, it’s just, 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, and if and when Conor comes back, he would get the first crack at the title.”

Previously saying that McGregor would have until March to make a decision, White then confirmed that the promotion was ready to strip by far their biggest star as a matter of principle:

“Absolutely.”

As the UFC is bombarded with a stream of hate that only grows much bigger with each day, the world leader in mixed martial arts seems to be being lenient with their only real superstar, but with a limit to how long they are willing to wait.

Many thought UFC titles were devalued at an alarming rate during a strange transitionary period for the UFC and new owners Endeavor last year, so it should be refreshing for many hardcore fans of the sport to see them put out a concrete plan of where lightweight will go.

Now, they’ll just have to act on it.

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Joe Rogan Reveals Real Reason UFC Will Strip Conor McGregor’s Title

Without anything close to a clear return date confirmed, the talk about the UFC stripping lightweight champion Conor McGregor is reaching a fever pitch in most MMA circles. There’ve been multiple discussions about “The Notorious” coming back to finally unify the lightweight titles with interim champ Tony Ferguson, another about him fighting former two-division champ […]

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Without anything close to a clear return date confirmed, the talk about the UFC stripping lightweight champion Conor McGregor is reaching a fever pitch in most MMA circles.

There’ve been multiple discussions about “The Notorious” coming back to finally unify the lightweight titles with interim champ Tony Ferguson, another about him fighting former two-division champ Georges St-Pierre, more still about him meeting multiple past-prime boxers in the squared circle, and of course, his long-rumored trilogy match with rival Nate Diaz.

But none of it has come even close to fruition, and with McGregor demanding some sort of promoter’s or ownership stake for his next bout, his return could be many months off if it ever comes.

That, unfortunately, has the MMA world in a restless state of influx as fans await any news whatsoever from the sport’s biggest star – a star who was greatly missed throughout an up-and-down 2017 for the world’s biggest MMA outfit. And if you ask octagon commentator Joe Rogan, it’s going to stay that way for awhile.

Speaking to UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley on his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast (via MMA Mania), Rogan revealed his opinion why the UFC will have to eventually strip McGregor of the title, opening up the path for a huge Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov fight in Russia:

“Here’s my prediction: My prediction (is) Conor doesn’t fight for a while. They strip Conor. Tony and Khabib fight for the world title. I think they’re going to strip him, because Conor’s got $100 million in the bank, and he’s having fun and talking (expletive), and he’s going to keep training,” Rogan said.

“And he’s going to make a big fight in the future, but I think Khabib and Tony is the big fight and (expletive), they might even do that one in Russia. They’re talking about doing a big fight in Russia.”

Indeed the UFC has long discussed a foray into the fight-crazed Russian market, but logistical concerns have kept them out of the country until now, where it simply can no longer be denied with Nurmagomedov rapidly becoming one of their most dominant and fastest-rising stars.

The promotion plans to put on their first-ever card on Russian soil this fall, and Nurmagomedov insists he wants to fight three times this year, with the first bout coming in the spring and the second coming in the fall after Ramadan has passed. That timeline could work out with the UFC’s first event in Russia, and it could also be when the UFC has finally had enough with McGregor and strips him if he has not at least clarified when he plans to return.

Rogan’s suggestion that the champ is more interested in enjoying the $100 million he earned from his circus-like boxing match against Floyd Mayweather certainly appears true on the surface, and there is a good chance he never returns to the octagon.

With each passing day, Rogan’s point of view could become more and more likely – and that’s a call you can bet the UFC is hoping they don’t have to make.

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Khabib’s Management Refuses To Fight For ‘Fake’ Interim Belt

Following his three-round destruction of Edson Barboza at UFC 219, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father recently said they were willing to take on former champion Eddie Alvarez if the UFC decided to book Conor McGregor vs. Tony Ferguson to unify the 155-pound belt. However, his manager is singing an entirely different tune. Ali Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting that […]

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Following his three-round destruction of Edson Barboza at UFC 219, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father recently said they were willing to take on former champion Eddie Alvarez if the UFC decided to book Conor McGregor vs. Tony Ferguson to unify the 155-pound belt.

However, his manager is singing an entirely different tune.

Ali Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting that they are not interested in fighting for Ferguson’s interim title, a ‘fake’ belt that no one wants:

“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.”

The UFC lightweight title picture is beyond a mess right now, with Dana White stating champion Conor McGregor must make his intentions known so they can book Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov for the interim title sometime around March with the winner taking on “The Notorious” later in the year.

But Abdelaziz’s insistence throws yet another wrench into the plans, which are haphazard at best while McGregor negotiates a potential promoter’s stake in his next fight and Ferguson recovers from elbow surgery. Adding to that mess is Nurmagomedov’s long track record of injuries and weight-cutting issues, making any fight involving him a dangerous prospect in a division that needs him – and McGregor – active to truly move on.

“The Eagle” set his sights on three bouts in 2018 – one in the spring, one around September after Ramadan is over, and a final fight in December. To do so, the UFC will have to get to work booking the dominant grappler soon, and that may not be easy with both McGregor and Ferguson out of action.

There’s little chance Khabib would leapfrog Ferguson and fight for the official belt, and it seems we’re perhaps several months away from McGregor actually defending his title if he ever does, so the logjam at lightweight may have just had a fresh load of logs thrown on top of it.

Welcome to 2018, fight fans.

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Darren Till Insists He’s ‘Much Better’ Than Conor McGregor

Surging UFC welterweight Darren Till was one of the hottest rising contenders in the deeply talented 170-pound division throughout 2017. The Liverpool, England-based fighter truly blasted onto the scene by knocking out longtime veteran Donald Cerrone in the main event of October’s UFC Gdansk, a fight after which he deservedly began entertaining some potential big-name bouts. […]

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Surging UFC welterweight Darren Till was one of the hottest rising contenders in the deeply talented 170-pound division throughout 2017.

The Liverpool, England-based fighter truly blasted onto the scene by knocking out longtime veteran Donald Cerrone in the main event of October’s UFC Gdansk, a fight after which he deservedly began entertaining some potential big-name bouts.

A match-up with former title challenger Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson made the rounds, but the No. 1-ranked Karate wiz eventually said it wasn’t in his best interest to fight a lower-ranked, up-and-coming opponent. On the other hand, it would obviously give Till another sizable shot right up the ranks, something he told MMA Junkie wasn’t necessarily his goal.

For him, he knows he has a long way to go, so it was more of a challenge against one of the UFC’s best strikers in ‘Wonderboy’:

“I don’t feel like I’ve earned a title shot and, to be totally honest, I don’t even feel like I’ve earned a top-three spot. The only reason why I asked for ‘Wonderboy’ is because I think it would decipher who the best striker is (in welterweight division). But I don’t really care if it’s No. 1 or No. 10.

“He’s an excellent fighter, one of the best, and I don’t want to fight him for an easy route to the title, but because I want to test myself against the best. If he’s the guy to beat me and take all my momentum, then fair play to him. But I don’t believe he could do it.”

Even if Thompson is unwilling to face Till, the Liverpudlian striker already had another high-profile match-up in his back pocket, this time a pay-per-view (PPV) bout against fellow rising challenger Rafael dos Anjos in Brazil.

In his eyes, dos Anjos would be easy money despite his spotless track record as of late. Till believes a match-up with dos Anjos would be over in one single round, and that even UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who fights a weight class below the massive welterweight Till, would have destroyed dos Anjos.

With that established, Till said he was similar to the notorious Irish megastar, only ‘much better’:

“A pay-per-view against dos Anjos in Brazil would be huge, and I am totally up for it,” Till said.

“The great thing is, I would go there and beat him in a round because he’s designed for me and is just too scrappy on the feet. I think Conor McGregor would have absolutely annihilated him, and I’m twice Conor’s size. I’m also a similar fighter to Conor – just much better. I would kill dos Anjos, and I just don’t know what he’s doing in this division.”

Much of that confidence may lie in Till’s full knowledge that he’s simply much bigger and stronger than his competition. Walking at a reported out-of-fight weight of 210 pounds, Till fully acknowledged he was too big to keep fighting at 170 pounds forever.

Because of his overwhelming stature, Till said he plans on not only eventually moving up to 185 pounds but also to 205 in an effort to become an unprecedented three-weight champion:

“In all honesty, I am too big for the division,” he said. “You could see with Cerrone, and I know he’s a former lightweight, but I am huge at this weight. I’m going to spend some time taking over at welterweight, but then I will move up.

“People think I’m joking, but I’m also planning on going up to light heavyweight because I still have years to go and I’m going to continue to grow. I want to be a three-weight world champion.”

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Edson Barboza Finally Addresses “Tough” Loss To Khabib

Top-ranked lightweight Edson Barboza saw a three-fight win streak brutally disappear when he was dominated for three rounds by top-ranked contender Khabib Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of December 30’s UFC 219. It was a beatdown of epic proportions, one that became more apparent and visceral as ‘The Eagle’s’ ground game neutralized another with each […]

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Top-ranked lightweight Edson Barboza saw a three-fight win streak brutally disappear when he was dominated for three rounds by top-ranked contender Khabib Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of December 30’s UFC 219.

It was a beatdown of epic proportions, one that became more apparent and visceral as ‘The Eagle’s’ ground game neutralized another with each onslaught of ground damage. The win has the long-touted Khabib on the cusp of an interim title shot, but for the striker Barboza, it’s back to the drawing board.

One of the UFC’s best pure Muay Thai practitioners, Barboza didn’t believe the Dagestani grappler would be able to shut him down like he had everyone else, telling MMA Fighting that he had a great camp preparing for “The Eagle” and simply fell prey to his dominant gameplan:

”I really didn’t expect that to happen, man. I was very upset the week after the fight because I was well prepared, had a wonderful camp.

“It was a tough loss, no doubt about it.

”It was pretty much how we imagined it. I knew he wouldn’t take me down in the middle of the Octagon. I knew that his only chance to take me down was close to the fence, so I obviously worked that a lot, but he was able to impose his game, and I couldn’t get out of there. That was the problem. I fell in his game, I spent 15 minutes doing his game.”

Photo by Gary A. Vasquez for USA TODAY Sports

Barboza also admitted he was fooled by Khabib’s takedown attempts off of forward pressure, something he said was the opposite when he watched prior film on him:

”Honestly, I didn’t expect that. He walked backwards in all of his previous fights before he went for takedowns. I was prepared for it, but I thought he would do what he always did, to avoid the striking. It surprised me that he moved forward.

”I was aware of what was happening the entire time, and I believed it until the end. Things were going wrong but I kept thinking, ‘Brother, if he gives me a chance I’ll finish the fight.’ I remember everything that happened that night.”

While the beating was arguably the most one-sided fight of 2017 that actually went to the judges’ scorecards, Barboza didn’t agree one bit with some people’s assessment that the fight could have and should have been called at several junctures:

”If my corners had stopped the fight, I probably would have fought them all,” he said. “They know me really well, they know what I can handle. I’ve trained with millions of different people, the best boxers in New Jersey and Philadelphia, and they never knocked me down. They know me, they know what I can take, and they knew I could win at any moment.”

The best boxers in New Jersey and Philly don’t have arguably the best takedowns in all of mixed martial arts, however, and Barboza’s inability to defend them will keep him out of the very top levels of the talented but troubled lightweight division.

Hungry to wash away the bad taste of the loss, Barboza said he’s ready to get back to training as he prepares teammate Frankie Edgar for his featherweight title match-up with Max Holloway at UFC 222:

I’m already training hard. I want to fight.”

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UFC Champ Says He Won’t Avoid Defending Like ‘Afraid’ Conor McGregor

The MMA world is in a verifiable frenzy concerning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s next move. With just about everyone invested in the sport wanting to know if and when he’ll return, the only one who doesn’t seem to care is “The Notorious” himself as he sits on a mountain of cash earned from his […]

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The MMA world is in a verifiable frenzy concerning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s next move.

With just about everyone invested in the sport wanting to know if and when he’ll return, the only one who doesn’t seem to care is “The Notorious” himself as he sits on a mountain of cash earned from his boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather last August.

Even the most supportive McGregor fans are getting antsy, and the famed Irish slugger has yet to defend either of his titles since first winning the UFC featherweight belt from Jose Aldo in late 2015. A host of guaranteed-to-be-lucrative bouts awaits him if and when he does return, such as a unification bout with Ferguson or maybe his long-rumored trilogy match with Nate Diaz, even though that fight seems to be losing steam rather quickly.

As McGregor drags his heels, however, another UFC champion is wholly interested in getting the biggest fight he can, and he’s not shy letting those intentions be known. That man is UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, who is currently campaigning for a super fight with dominant flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, a bout “Mighty Mouse” doesn’t seem to be all too enthused about.

Regardless, Dillashaw is still on the hunt for it because he views it as a chance to cement his legacy as one of the sport’s pound-for-pound best, a moniker Dillashaw told FloCombat (via MMA Mania) he believes was ripped from him when Dominick Cruz outlasted him with a controversial split decision two years ago:

“This is a way to put a stamp on my legacy. I was a little hurt losing that split decision [to Dominick Cruz] and not being on a 13-fight win streak and being called the pound-for-pound best in the world.

“In my mind, I should be No. 1. So it comes down to beating Demetrious Johnson to prove I’m the best, and it’s a huge thing for my legacy to be the double champ in two weight classes.”

A win over Johnson, who has racked up 11 consecutive title defenses to stand alone with the record, would certainly go a long way in cementing Dillashaw’s potential status as one of MMA’s top pound-for-pound competitors.

Of course, there’s always the issue of tying up two divisions to make it, which could especially become a problem in Dillashaw’s 135-pound roost, where a plethora of talented challengers awaits him. Dillashaw attempted to cool those concerns by stating if he was to win the 125-pound title, he wouldn’t be like McGregor and would instead remain active by defending:

“I’m not a Conor McGregor. I’m going to be active defending my belts. I’m not afraid to fight.”

He’ll have to procure the fight first, however, and with word arriving that “Mighty Mouse” underwent successful shoulder surgery today, it could be quite some time on the sidelines before he ever gets it – if he does.

Either way, the 135-pound king is looking to do what’s necessary to build his own exposure in an era of MMA where that’s absolutely necessary, and playing off the growing discontent with McGregor’s inactivity is one way to do it.

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