Michael Chiesa: Conor McGregor backlogging UFC lightweight division is ‘retarded’

You get the feeling Michael Chiesa is not a big fan of the news the Conor McGregor finally got his wish to box Floyd Mayweather on August 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada, as “Maverick” says all it’s doing is holding up the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight division.

Full details on that boxing match here.

When it comes to the title picture, Chiesa feels top contenders have to sit around and wait to see when “Notorious” decides to make his next move. And he didn’t have many nice words to say about that whole situation.

“We don’t need to beat around the bush. Conor’s doing what he’s doing is [expletive] retarded. What Conor is doing is ridiculous,” Chiesa told Fight Society podcast via Fox Sports.

“It’s a tricky decision, and it’s all tricky because we’re sitting and waiting for one guy to do something, and you’ve got 10 guys spring loaded to do something. Like we’re all gunning to be world champion and it sucks just having to sit back and wait to see what this guy does.”

Indeed, the last time the belt was defended was back in November at UFC 205, site of Conor’s history-making win over Eddie Alvarez. So by the time Conor is ready to come back to MMA following his boxing adventure, it will be nearly a year since anything big has gone down in the the weight class.

“By the time the Floyd [Mayweather] fight happens, his belt will have not moved for a year. This division has already been plagued by delays. Look when [Anthony] Pettis was champion, how many fights we had. We had none. There’s never been an interim title. Once again the lightweight division is back logged so it kind of sucks. It really does.”

On the bright side, “Notorious” fully intends on coming back to MMA later this year, so it gives the rest of the top155-pound contenders hope of getting a big-money title fight.

Chiesa — the No.7 ranked fighter on the 155-pound roster — hopes to climb up the rankings and inch himself toward his first-ever UFC title fight when he faces off against Kevin Lee in the main event of UFC Fight Night 112 this weekend (Sun., May 25, 2017) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

For more that Fox Sports 1 event click here.