TKZ: McGregor has made a mess of the division

Conor McGregor is great for the UFC, doubling the PPV buys of the rest of the league combined lst year. He is great for Conor McGregor, too, breaking into Forbes top 100 athletes list with an estimated $22,000,000 in earnings. And anyone who fights him gets a Red Panty Night. e is the only fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at once.

He is the only fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at once, and the UFC has said that McGregor has to give up either the featherweight or the lightweight title. Unfortunately, thus far he has said wants to hold onto both, given that he “fights every two weeks.” However, he out at least until May when his first child is born.

McGregor won the featherweight championship on December 12, 2015, knocking out Jose Aldo in 14 seconds. If McGregor opts to hold onto the featherweight belt, he will not defend until May at the earliest, making it 18 months without a defense.

Aldo came back to defeat Frankie Edgar for the interim title, and awaits a title unification fight. Max Holloway is on a nine-fight win streak at featherweight, which earns consideration for a rematch too.

At lightweight, Khabib Nurmagomedov is 24-0, and says if he doesn’t get a title shot, he will quit the UFC. And Tony Ferguson is on an extraordinary nine-fight win streak, with his last three wins each being Fight of the Night, and the two before that each earning ‘of the Night’ performance bonuses. With McGregor out at lightweight until May, or conceivably forever, their status too is unknown.

Chan Sung Jung, The Korean Zombie has now returned to the featherweight after serving the mandatory two years of military service required of South Korean citizens. In an exclusive interview with Chris Taylor on BJPenn.com’s Rapid Fire, TKZ said he is not impressed.

Conor McGregor has made a mess of the featherweight division, said the Korean, as transcribed by Tom Taylor for BJPenn.com. I don’t think he’ll be coming back to featherweight, though. A lot has happened in my time away. We’ll have to see what happens. We have to see if McGregor is going to defend the belt or not. I doubt it, though.

He’s doing well for himself. McGregor is very good at what he does. Only he can get away with that kind of stuff. It’s too bad we’re not in the same division. Since I don’t think he’s coming back down to featherweight, we probably won’t get the chance to fight. But, obviously, he’s become a big star and is making lots of money. I honestly don’t know if it’s good for the sport, since he’s just looking after himself.

TKZ said he is interested in a title hunt, but understands he needs to take a first fight to get back on track.