VIDEO | Dana White on how to stop Conor McGregor from holding up a division: You take the belt

It’s becoming much more clear that Dana White is not going to let Conor McGregor remain the UFC lightweight champion if he does not have plans of fighting until the later part of 2018.

Speaking on the Toucher and Rich radio show on Wednesday, White said that the fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is going to take place. In addition, White sounds like he does have plans of stripping the belt from McGregor so the lightweight division can move along.

“He can’t hold up the title, can’t hold up the whole division,” White said (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.”

White was then asked how you stop “The Notorious” from holding up the division and the UFC president gave his answer.

“You take the belt,” White stated. “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.”

Do you think we will ever see Conor McGregor return to fight in the Octagon if his lightweight title is stripped from him? Let’s discuss this one in the comment section!

on 1/17/2018.