Conor McGregor blasts UFC over belt switch: ‘You’re fooling nobody’
Irish superstar was stripped of his featherweight title just two weeks after becoming the UFC's first simultaneous two-weight world champion - and he's got something to say about it
TWO-WEIGHT world champion Conor McGregor has hit out at the UFC after they stripped him of the UFC featherweight title, then claimed it was HIS idea.
The news of the change was announced during the live broadcast of UFC Fight Night in Melbourne last weekend, stating that McGregor had ‘relinquished’ the title.
And UFC president Dana White doubled down on that line, telling Yahoo Sports this week that letting go of the 145lb title was Conor’s call.
“Do you think I just did this?” he said.
"This was Conor’s decision."
But during a Q&A session at The Devenish restaurant in Belfast this week McGregor gave his, very different, side to the story.
“They’re trying to strip me,” he said.
"I’m like, ‘Nah, I ain’t stripped. I’ve still got that belt!’
“That belt’s still at home right now. I’m still the two-weight world champion. Someone’s got to come take that off me.
“I see articles. I see stuff online. But I don’t see the belt not in my presence.”
McGregor made UFC history at UFC 205 in New York when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to capture the UFC lightweight title and become the first athlete to hold belts in two weight divisions at the same time.
But his reign as a simultaneous two-weight king lasted just a fortnight when it was announced his featherweight crown had been handed to the man he knocked out in 13 seconds last December, former undisputed champion Jose Aldo.
When he was asked whether he was stripped of his title or if he’d relinquished it, McGregor laughed:
“Eddie’s still unconscious – what do you mean?
“Them belts are mine, whatever they want to say, and they can say, ‘Ah, we took the belt, and now it’s this guy’s belt.’
"You can play with those fake belts all you want. Jose was KO'd, Eddie was KO’d. You’re looking at the two-weight world champion, and that’s it.
"I’ll say to the UFC - and I love the company - you’re fooling nobody. You’re fooling nobody with that. But best of luck to them.”
