White: McGregor stripped of title, Ferguson isn’t
Dana White: “There’s no stripping. We’re not stripping Tony Ferguson. Tony Ferguson isn’t being stripped. The only that’s losing the belt here is Conor.”
At Wednesday’s the UFC 223 pre-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White officially stripped Conor McGregor has been stripped of his lightweight belt. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway will be fighting for the belt on Saturday.
“No interim champ,” said White referring to belt they will be fighting for. “When this fight is over – champion. One of these guys will be the champion. Period.”
White now should hope there fight doesn’t end with a tie or No Contest.
It was widely believed that Interim champ Tony Ferguson lost his title when he was injured earlier this week in a freak accident that left him unable to fight Nurmagomedov for the full belt. However, White said that is not the case, when asked by Ariel Helwani at the 16:12 mark.
There’s no stripping. We’re not stripping Tony Ferguson. Tony Ferguson isn’t being stripped,” said White. “The only that’s losing the belt here is Conor. Conor’s losing the belt. These two are fighting for the belt. The interim that he had, these two were supposed to fight for doesn’t happen. One of these guys will be the champion. Tony is still the number one contender.”
Nurmagomedov was not impressed.
“Only one king in the jungle,” he declared. “You cannot be interim king.”
The big question, of course, is McGregor.
“Conor’s coming back this year,” said White. “100% he will fight this year. We’ll see how this thing plays out, and we’ll go from there.”
