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20th Oct 2016

Conor McGregor has just one request for the UFC before he agrees to give up a belt

Not too much to ask

Darragh Murphy

“We’ll get one of those belts, I promise you!”

That’s what Dana White recently vowed on Speak for Yourself on the subject of Conor McGregor and the fact that he could potentially be a two-weight world champion this time next month.

The UFC featherweight champion has the chance to make history in the main event of UFC 205, when he attempts to wrest the lightweight strap from champion Eddie Alvarez’s clutches.

If ‘The Notorious’ manages to do so, he will be the first fighter in UFC history to have held a title in two different weight classes simultaneously but if, and it’s a big if, that takes place then the UFC president has repeatedly insisted that McGregor would have to immediately leave one of his two belts behind.

UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor

After initially putting up a brash and stubborn front on the issue, bellowing “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 fucking army to come take them belts off me,” McGregor has seemingly become a little bit more reasonable.

The Irishman has since somewhat come around to the popular opinion that it’s not altogether fair to hold up two weight divisions but he has asked the UFC to allow him have his history-making feat properly documented before he allows one title to be taken away, should he beat Alvarez on November 12.

“Let me see the pictures on publications with a belt on each shoulder first,” McGregor told Sports Illustrated. “Let me go onto the side of that Octagon and raise two world titles, what’s never been done before, before talking about stripping me. Let me get the fucking things, let me do it.

UFC 196 McGregor vs. Diaz Press Conference

“I’ll always listen to the correct business move and I’ll always do what is the correct move,” he added, “but let me do it and let me go back and look at some pictures of me with two belts and let me embrace it for half-a-day.”

McGregor blames the media for stirring up the furore surrounding the subject of holding two belts at the same time and suggested that it’s jealousy of what would be a remarkable achievement that is leading the narrative.

“Everyone wants to see you do good, but not better than them,” he said. “That’s what’s happening here. I’m just looking forward to raising the belts, and doing what has not been done before.

“Don’t be trying to take away the historic moment before I’ve even experienced it.”

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