Dana White Says UFC 223 Headliner is for ‘Real’ Title, Still No Clarity if McGregor Has Been Stripped
Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will square off at UFC 223 for what Dana White calls the “real” lightweight title, but it remains largely unclear if Conor McGregor has been stripped of the belt he won in November 2016.
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“I have no update. The winner of this fight will be the champion,” White said.
When asked if that meant that McGregor would no longer be champion
by the time UFC 223 rolls around on April 7, White responded with
one of his favorite phrases, one which never provides much in the
way of insight.
“We’ll see what happens,” White said.
White appeared to grow agitated when pressed on the issue by other media members as the event continued.
“I answered the question already. They’re gonna fight for the title,” White said. “This is the real title. I said that Conor can’t hold up the title for two years.”
One final time, White was asked if there was a reason as to why he wouldn’t simply say that McGregor would be stripped of the lightweight crown. Again, the promotion head refused to budge.
“No, there’s no reason,” he said. “Did I say he’s been stripped of the title? Next question, please.”
If it sounds a little confusing, it’s because it was. Meanwhile, White continued to stick to the same talking points he has relied on in recent weeks: that McGregor can’t hold up an entire division after not defending the belt since winning it in November 2016.
“I said leading into the Mayweather fight, I made it pretty clear, I’ve been in this business for a very long time: when you make an obscene amount of money like that, who knows if they’ll ever come back,” White said. “Right now, the position we’re in, Conor is saying maybe I’ll come back in August, maybe I’ll come back in September. But that’s almost two years.
“It’s not fair to the rest of the guys in the division. The division has to go on. These guys have been fighting their whole career. Everybody wants to get to that pinnacle. It’s the fair thing to do. I mean, I take so much s--t for how much I love Conor McGregor, but the division has to go on.”
Ferguson, who won the interim lightweight belt with a victory over Kevin Lee at UFC 216, seemed confident that his title was now undisputed.
“They offered me Conor. Conor didn’t want to fight. So I want to fight people that actually want to fight,” Ferguson said. “I’m not going to beg someone to go there and fight. This is the real belt. I’ve fought 10 fights, you guys all watched them. If not, you’re a casual. Go watch my fights and you’ll see exactly why I have this belt. I am the champ. Conor McNuggets is nothing, he’s lost his sauce. This is defend or vacate. I’m defending my belt.”
Perhaps White is playing coy because the UFC still has hope of luring McGregor back into the Octagon sooner rather than later. Outright admitting that the “Notorious” one is no longer champion could hinder those plans. Regardless of McGregor’s status, it appears that the Irishman’s next Octagon bout will be against the Ferguson-Nurmagomedov winner – if he elects to return.
“I think Conor McGregor is not only one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts, but one of the biggest stars in all of sports on earth,” White said. “So I think this fight [at UFC 223] is ridiculous and after this fight happens, whenever Conor does decide to come back, I think it will be massive.”
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