By refusing to give a straight answer about, or timeline for, Conor McGregor, UFC president Dana White left everyone wanting more... answers.
On Friday night, in Boston, White declared that the winner of April's UFC 223 headliner between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmaomedov would be declared the "undisputed champion" of the lightweight division.
UFC's graphics department also captioned Ferguson as 'lightweight champion', as opposed to interim champ. The only thing left to do, it seemed, was to either strip Conor McGregor of his 155lbs belt or request that he relinquish it.
That did not happen, however, as White said he had no update to give on 'The Notorious'. He then told
TSN, back-stage, that McGregor would not lose his belt if, before that April 7 event, he agreed to fight the winner of Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/954828141746442241
So who is the real champion while all this is going on? Remember, Ferguson and Nurmagomedov have been scheduled to fight each other on three previous occasions and have never reached The Octagon. McGregor has yet to address the matter since Friday and has certainly not come forward with a declaration about fighting UFC 223's winner.
It leaves Ferguson and Nurmagomedov in limbo and answering questions about McGregor, again, despite the fact that the Dubliner has not competed in the UFC since November 2016.
Ferguson admitted on
The MMA Hour, that the current situation 'bothers the sh*t out of me'. He declared:
"Straight up. I’m the f**king champ and we don’t know if we’re fighting for the real belt or not. What the f**k is that?
"Dana White is telling us one thing on one [side] of the curtain and on the other side he’s saying, ‘No, Conor McGregor is the champion. Go and do your homework.’
"And I love Dana, man, but I’m like, ‘What the f*ck, dude? Am I not the champ or am I the champ? Do you want to hype me up or do you not want to hype me up for this fight?’”
According to Ferguson, he was first offered the chance to win the undisputed title by taking on Nurmagomedov. He was then offered a fight against McGregor but, he believes, contract wrangles and motivation for a return intervened and he was back to facing 'The Eagle' in Brooklyn on April 7.
We may know more by the time UFC 223 rolls around but, until then, McGregor's shadow very much looms over his lightweight division.
