Who on earth would have thought that an injury to Daniel Cormier could impact Conor McGregor’s life in any way whatsoever?
Well it appears as though the UFC light heavyweight champion’s withdrawal from the upcoming UFC 206 card in Toronto may well cut the Irishman’s reign as the first ever two-weight UFC champion short.
It’s been exactly a fortnight since ‘The Notorious’ added the 155lbs crown to his featherweight title when he dismantled former champ Eddie Alvarez in the second round of the UFC 205 main event but McGregor’s 145lbs belt could well be going elsewhere.
With Cormier off the UFC 206 card and challenger Anthony Johnson reportedly willing to wait for his second shot at the title rather than accept a short-notice bout against a replacement, the UFC is left scrambling with very few options to salvage their pay-per-view.
But, according to esteemed MMA reporter Ariel Helwani, the shake-up for the December 10 event is likely to result in McGregor being stripped of the featherweight title with Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis set to fight for the interim 145lbs championship in the event’s new headliner.
As of now, plan is Anthony Pettis vs. Max Holloway for the interim 145 lbs. title happening 12/10 in Toronto. That's what the UFC wants.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 26, 2016
UFC has been pushing to strip McGregor of the 145 title for some time. Legally, they can. Would be interesting to see how he responds.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 26, 2016
That would see the current interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo return to the summit of the division by having the interim prefix removed and becoming 145lbs kingpin once again.
As of now these are no more than reports and we await official confirmation from the UFC but you’d do well to name a better connected individual in the fight game than Helwani so it’s safe to assume that these events are in the works at the very least.
McGregor has yet to react to the news although he would have been expecting the call to vacate a title as UFC president Dana White has hinted that that was the plan all along, i.e. have McGregor cement his legacy at UFC 205 by making history as a two-weight champion before allowing at least one division to return to its natural, fluid state without a log jam at the top.
Seems reasonable https://t.co/CQEdwmoOBD
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 20, 2016
“So this fight’s coming up and he wants to try to gain both belts,” White told ESPN in December. “He will give up one of the titles after that fight in New York.”
We also await news of the army assembled by the UFC to prise McGregor’s 145lbs title away.
“I’m gonna wrap one on one shoulder and I’m gonna wrap the other one on the other shoulder, and they’re gonna need a fucking army to come take them belts off me,” McGregor said at a press conference in the build-up to UFC 205.
