Dana White 'interested' in champ vs. champ fight with McGregor and dos Anjos

Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor could soon have the chance to make more UFC history by becoming the first fighter in company history to hold two championship belts simultaneously.

After McGregor(19-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) revealed his intention to move up and challenge for the lightweight belt following his 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo (25-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) to capture featherweight gold at UFC 194 in December, UFC President Dana White said he’s “interested” in giving the Irishman the chance to make his words a reality.

That would mean a future showdown with 155-pound titleholder Rafael dos Anjos (25-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC), who defended his title at UFC on FOX 17 in December with a 66-second TKO of Donald Cerrone and said he would be “glad” to take on “The Notorious.”

“Conor has said that he would like to win the 155-pound belt and fight four times a year and defend both belts,” White said on FOX Sports 1’s “UFC Tonight.” “If anybody can do it, Conor McGregor can. This guy has pretty much done everything he said he would do, so, I’m interested.”

The UFC has historically been reluctant allow a champion to fight outside their respective weight class while holding the belt. B.J. Penn moved up a division to fight George St-Pierre in a champion vs. champion fight at UFC 94 in January 2009. Anderson Silva fought at light heavyweight multiple times while holding 185-pound gold. Outside of those two examples, though, there’s little precedent for the move McGregor hopes to make.

If McGregor does go up to lightweight to challenge for dos Anjos’ belt, top featherweight contender Frankie Edgar, who is riding a five-fight winning including a first-round knockout of Chad Mendes at the TUF 22 Finale in December, would be left waiting for his shot at the 145-pound belt.

As McGregor has proven time and time again throughout his UFC career, though, he’s able to break away from the existing mold of how the promotion functions and it seems likely he’s about to do it again.

“That is true that normally I would say that if you’re going to move up in weight, you have to give up the belt,” White said. “But Conor has done everything he said he would do. He wants to fight – he really likes money – so if anybody can do it, it’s probably him.”

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