UFC President Dana White stripped Conor McGregor of his lightweight championship prior to UFC 223 which is apparently happening this weekend.
Early this morning/late last night, McGregor posted a tweet addressing the news that he’d lose his belt in typical McGregor fashion:
You’s’ll strip me of nothing you’s do nothing cunts.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 5, 2018
Buuuuuuuuuuuut on Thursday afternoon, Dana White did just that while announcing that the winner of this weekend’s fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway would be crowned the undisputed lightweight champion.
An incensed McGregor and his camp crashed the media event surrounding the event.
Felice Herrig captured part of the ruckus caused behind the scenes when Conor McGregor and his team arrived. This is from her Instagram account pic.twitter.com/9R6T2eNNTs
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) April 5, 2018
In the van in the video, you can hear Nurmagomedov saying that he wants a piece of Conor. Nurmagomedov is 25-0 in his MMA career and a current -400 favorite for this weekend’s title fight.
Which leads me to my next point.
It cannot be ignored that this weekend is Wrestlemania, the UFC’s quasi-competitor’s biggest event of the year. What’s the best way to steal some of the spotlight back? Have your sports biggest star go on a rampage prior to the potential new star’s title fight so big that the cops get involved and a warrant for an arrest gets issued.
It’s straight out of the professional wrestling playbook.
Before today, I really had no clue who this Nurmagomedov guy was.
Today? I would be willing to pay a lot of money and organize a watch party to see McGrevor v Nurmagomedov in a couple of months.
Is it possible that Dana White is truly sick of his biggest star’s antics? Sure. McGregor hasn’t fought in a UFC ring since November of 2016. However, it’s much more likely that this sets up a big-time fight in which a champion who never lost his title gets to chase after his title after a new guy comes in and wins it. It’s perfect.
It’s a work.
UPDATE
Contrary to earlier reports, no arrest warrant has been issued for Conor McGregor, according to the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner Public Information office. https://t.co/5Z9sp2nzTy
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) April 5, 2018
