CON DROPS BELT

UFC confirms Conor McGregor has officially ‘relinquished’ the UFC featherweight title

Irish UFC superstar became the promotion's first simultaneous two-weight world champion at UFC 205, but he's now been forced to let go of the UFC featherweight title he won last December with old foe Jose Aldo reclaiming the undisputed title

Simon Head

Published: 4:18, 27 Nov 2016
Updated: 9:17, 27 Nov 2016

is no longer a reigning two-weight world champion after the Irish superstar officially ‘relinquished' his featherweight title on Saturday night.

The move was announced live by commentator Jon Anik during the main card broadcast at on Saturday night as they explained the reshuffle of the December 10 fight card for .

Conor McGregor is the first man to hold two titles at the same time, but he's had to let go of his featherweight beltCredit: Per Haljestam

Light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier’s torn groin saw him ruled out of the originally-scheduled main event with Anthony Johnson, and the UFC have reacted by promoting the co-main event bout between featherweight contenders Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis to the new headliner.

But in a move to keep world championship interest at the top of the card, the UFC has opted to make the Holloway-Pettis fight an interim featherweight title fight, with interim champion Jose Aldo promoted to the division’s full, undisputed, champion.

Former undisputed champ Jose Aldo claimed the interim featherweight title with a points win over Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in July

And in making that move, the UFC have effectively stripped McGregor of the 145lb title he won by starching Aldo in just 13 seconds back at UFC 194 last December.

Despite winning the title in such spectacular fashion, McGregor hasn’t defended the belt since, opting instead to pursue a route towards two-title glory that eventually culminated in his masterclass victory over then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden at UFC 205.

Conor McGregor made history after sweeping aside Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205Credit: Usa Today Sports

And even though he’d previously said“It’s gonna take a f*****g army” to take one of the belts from him, McGregor nonetheless now finds himself as the holder of just the lightweight title, with old foe Aldo promoted from interim to full champion once again.

At time of writing we don’t know McGregor’s take on the situation, but what we do know is makes things much clearer for both weight divisions as we head towards 2017.