SHOULD Connor McGregor be allowed to keep both the UFC lightweight and featherweight world title belts?
UFC President Dana White has said on numerous occasions that McGregor will have to give up one of the belts. White explained that McGregor will have to figure out which belt he wants and not hold up two divisions.
The only legitimate reason I can think of not to allow McGregor to keep two belts is if he’s not able to defend either or both belts.
But McGregor is and has always been an active fighter. He fought four times this past year. He beat Eddie Alvarez by TKO last Nov. 12 at UFC 205. He fought Nate Diaz twice: August 20 and March 5. Last December 12, 2015 he knocked out Jose Aldo with one punch to win the UFC featherweight title.
This means that theoretically McGregor could defend both titles twice a year which effectively eliminates the only valid argument against him holding both titles at once.
Besides, this business of fighters holding multiple world titles at the same time isn’t really anything new. A guy named Henry Armstrong held the boxing world titles in the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions all at the same time back in the late 1930s.
Having said all that going up in weight is one thing. Trying to go back down is quite another thing and is way more difficult. Even McGregor knows that.
But it’s something he’s done before. McGregor became a two-division champion in the United Kingdom MMA promotion Cage Warriors Fighting Championship in 2012. He captured both the featherweight and lightweight titles. He never defender either title because he moved on to the UFC in 2013.
He also has not defended his UFC featherweight title which he won way back December 2015. While he’s an active fighter per se, he’s not really active in defending titles after winning them.
With his victory over Alvarez McGregor has become arguably the biggest MMA figure of all-time. And like his previous dealings with other fight promotions he’s not really looking to just defend his title but already looking to bigger opportunities.
After beating Alvarez he publicly went on record saying that he would continue to fight but only if he’s given an ownership stake at the UFC. And just yesterday, he said he’d fight Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match for $100 million.
So, should Connor McGregor be allowed to keep both the UFC lightweight and featherweight world title belts?
Does he even want to?
★★★★★
By the way, that image of Connor McGregor straddling the top of the UFC Octagon with two championship belts draped around his shoulders could become as iconic as the image of Muhammad Ali glowering over a fallen Sonny Liston after he won their second bout.
And it never would have happened if not for some quick thinking by Dana White and the brass balls of McGregor himself.
Without the two belts there would not have been that iconic photo of McGregor sitting atop the cage with two belts draped around his shoulders. And wouldn’t you know it? McGregor neglected to bring his UFC featherweight belt leaving him a belt short of an iconic photo.
Good thing Dana White was quick to think on his feet and just borrowed Tyron Woodley’s belt for the photo ops.
So was this planned? Maybe partly. Knowing that he neglected to bring his featherweight belt, thus likely missing the chance for that “iconic” photo, McGregor just threw a hissy fit knowing Dana White would figure something out. It’s like maybe throwing White a ball and saying: “Hey Dana, think fast.”
Luckily, White was as much a showman as McGregor and knew the significance of McGregor holding the two belts and found a win-win solution by borrowing Woodley’s UFC welterweight championship belt as a prop for the photo ops.