The target could not have been bigger on Conor McGregor’s back since becoming a two division champion at UFC 205. The poster boy who epitomizes the tools of hard work and dedication can lead any fighter to the garden of Eden. As he hoisted two belts above his head, his reign over the featherweight division ended and he did not know it.
You’re gonna need a fucking army to take them belts off me
It has been two weeks since history was made at UFC 205 and two weeks till the ever-changing card of UFC 206 goes under the spotlight in Toronto, Canada. As news broke of Daniel Cormier’s injury, White was in the background trying to redesign a new main event to save the card from Dante’s inferno. The co-main event fight between Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway appealed to the fans on so many levels, to see both of them battle back and forth for 25 minutes would be a joy to watch and the simplest problem-solving solution would be to re-class this fight as the main event and a number one contender fight. Because McGregor had not defended the title for more than a year, White was in the background assembling an army to take the featherweight belt from him and make the new main event an “Interim” title defence. Once this chess move was made, the fight between Pettis and Holloway lost its purity and to the compulsive shopper it might get a few more sales. Legally the UFC reserve the right to strip McGregor, but there have been instances of fighters going over 12 months before defending their title.
To push the red button on the featherweight division and plug the cavity in the card is not as simple as it sounds. In this algorithm, the undisputed champion is McGregor and the interim champion is Jose Aldo, and the two should settle the dispute in the cage to end any arguments still lingering in the air. However, Aldo has now been made the full-time champion and Pettis/Holloway will fight for the “interim” belt. Except for Pettis, McGregor has beaten both competitors successfully in past, albeit Holloway has evolved since their last meeting in August 2013.
It is a truly messy situation and without due diligence for McGregor. The only way to reset the division back to normality and clear the murky waters of the past 11 months, is for Pettis to beat Holloway and then successfully beat Aldo to claim he is the undisputed 145 champion. This would set up a marquee fight with McGregor. The process of McGregor vacating the belt should have taking time and effort from White and allow the passing of the guard to have the same respect, as winning the belt in the first place. Similar to the process received by Georges St-Pierre with a press conference and releasing statements. As it stands it has been left far too open to interpretation and dissection.
The timing of asking a fighter to vacate or strip a belt was never going to be easy. The UFC have held previous situations in this manner before and treated it with deep reverence and regard but to blunder this situation and get into a power struggle with their powerhouse pay per view star should never have entered the equation. Especially on the cusp of UFC 207, where Ronda Rousey will make her long-awaited return to the Octagon. Result pending, it might be the last time we see Rousey. Fighters are never bigger than the promotion and the UFC machine will always move along, but fighters should be considered the essential moving parts of the machine. Because they are the ones who generate interest and revenue for the promotion, especially with the UFC looking at new TV deals in the near future.
The belt stripping conundrum will keep the MMA media and fans alike on a knife-edge throughout the coming days. Instead of parading McGregor as the first simultaneous champion with a media tour, especially in Ireland and allowing both parties to reap the rewards from that type of exposure. The UFC decided to perform a sideshow in Melbourne, where Jon Anik released the news that McGregor had “relinquished” his belt. This had the scent of the company showing him who the boss is and when you are dealing with a mercurial character like McGregor, who can exploit his media pull, is like bringing a knife to a gunfight.
