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Now that Conor McGregor has turned the mixed martial arts (MMA) world on its head, thanks to his lightweight championship win over Eddie Alvarez at the UFC 205 pay-per-view (PPV) event last Saturday night (Nov. 12, 2016) in New York City (watch it), the world wants to know if and when “Notorious” will surrender one of his straps, as ordered.
He can’t possibly keep and defend both belts ... can he?
It may be too soon to tell. While UFC President Dana White told the combat sports media he wasn’t softening his stance (that video here), he also wasn’t ready to “talk business” just yet.
“I’ve never dealt with anybody like this kid on so many different levels. Normally he walks out of the Octagon and goes, ‘I wanna fight this guy next.’ Nobody does that. Nobody has ever walked out of the Octagon and told me they wanna turn right around and fight again. He does. And who knows? I’m gonna let him enjoy this night and we’ll talk business later.”
Despite winning the featherweight strap nearly one year ago, courtesy of a first-round knockout victory over Jose Aldo, McGregor has yet to make a single defense of his 145-pound title, much to the chagrin of division contenders.
And he doesn’t appear to be in any big hurry to return.
In addition, “Notorious” is expecting his first child and will be taking some time off from the fight game, so it’s unclear when he’ll make his first title defense, assuming he even comes back as a featherweight or lightweight.