Dana White: Conor McGregor won’t be stripped of title

Leading up to Conor McGregor’s UFC 202 rematch with Nate Diaz earlier this month, UFC President Dana White stated that regardless of whether or not McGregor wins or loses, he will be forced to return to featherweight and defend his championship.

While McGregor has continued to remain noncommittal in regards to returning to featherweight, UFC President Dana White seems to be confident that McGregor will return to featherweight without the UFC brass having to play hard ball.

White went on NBC Sports Radio to explain why McGregor will either defend his belt or “give it up”:

“He’s not gonna get stripped,” White said to NBC Sports Radio. “He’s gonna make a decision. He knows that the Nate Diaz fight isn’t the fight to make right now. He has to either defend his title or give it up and decide what he wants to do next.”

“Think about this, Pacquiao-Mayweather, the build up for that fight, everything else. That fight didn’t live up to the hype and I think, more importantly, it left a really bad taste in people’s mouths. I don’t think that was the case for Diaz-McGregor [2]. With the amount of people that were pulled in to watch that fight, everybody left satisfied and those are the kind of fights that make you want to come back and watch again.”