Dana White: You take the belt to stop McGregor holding up the division

Get the Full StoryDana White: In any sport, the NBA, the NFL, hockey, whatever it may be. No one guy can hold the whole sport hostage . It s looking more and more likely that the UFC will strip Conor McGregor of the lightweight title.

Yesterday, head promoter Dana White announced a blockbuster lightweight bout between Tony Ferguson interim champ and top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 on April 7, with no mention of whether it would be for the interim or official title.

While White didn t confirm Ferguson-Nurmagomedov as a championship bout, the UFC president hinted that he is getting ready to strip The Notorious of the belt.

He can t hold up the title, can t hold up the whole division, White said on the Toucher and Rich radio show transcribed by Ryan Harkness for Uproxx . There s a lot of guys that I have to deal with every day that aren t worth the aggravation. This kid is worth the aggravation and I have so much respect for him, what he s accomplished, what he s done. If he wants to ride off into the sunset with his money for the rest of his life, I don t blame him. And if he wants to come back and fight, we ll get him back in. He just can t hold the division hostage.

When asked how he would stop McGregor from holding the division hostage, White gave a very straight answer.

You take the belt, he replied. In any sport, the NBA, the NFL, hockey, whatever it may be. No one guy can hold the whole sport hostage. It just doesn t happen. When Conor was getting ready for this Mayweather fight, I was already making plans for Conor to never come back. The company and the business goes on, and there will be other stars. The NBA didn t roll it up and pack it up when Jordan left. And they won t when LeBron goes either. The list goes on and on.

McGregor, 29, was stripped of the featherweight title shortly after beating Eddie Alvarez to become a two-division champ at UFC 205. The Irishman also won both the Cage Warriors featherweight and lightweight titles in 2012 but signed with the UFC before he had a chance to defend them.

If Dana White and co. do, in fact, decide to strip him of another belt, it would mean McGregor had won four world titles with no title defenses to his name. The combat sports superstar has given no timeline for his return but recently went back-and-forth with Nurmagomedov and told the undefeated Dagestani to get on his knees and beg for a fight.

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