UFC champ Conor McGregor stripped of belt? 'You ain't doing nothing without contacting me first'

Conor McGregor still considers himself – as he calls it – the “champ champ,” and he doesn’t care if UFC officials suggest otherwise.

McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC), the UFC lightweight champion and now former featherweight champion after “relinquishing” the 145-pound title this past month, has confirmed what many had expected: He wasn’t on board with the UFC’s decision to take away the 145-pound belt.

“The Notorious” parted ways with the featherweight belt when UFC brass opted to promote Jose Aldo (26-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) to undisputed titleholder and make the recent UFC 206 main event between Max Holloway (17-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) and Anthony Pettis (19-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC) an interim championship affair. Holloway won the gold with a third-round TKO of Pettis, beginning the post-McGregor era of the weight class.

McGregor has remained largely silent on the issue, but he was recently awarded the RTE “Sportsperson of the Year” award, and while accepting his prize, he sat down for an interview in which he discussed the situation (via Twitter):

Needless to say, McGregor’s story doesn’t necessarily match up with the one that UFC have given.

“Don’t mind that; I’m still the two-weight world champ,” McGregor said. “They can try to say what they want. They can try to put out the people that I’ve already destroyed. The current champion (Aldo) is a guy I KO’d in 13 seconds. The current interim champ (Holloway) is a guy I destroyed as well. Officially I don’t care what nobody says. I am the two-weight world champion, and that’s that.”

McGregor has been mostly out of the spotlight since he won the 155-pound title with a second-round knockout of Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November. He announced after the fight that his longtime girlfriend is pregnant and that he’s planning a hiatus from competition until mid-2017. However, his name has remained the headlines.

The brash Irishman’s budding feud with boxing star Floyd Mayweather has been widely reported, as has his decision to pursue boxing licenses in various states. McGregor said he has no concrete plans for what’s next, but he said he’s happy to keep options open.

“I can go out and maybe conquer the boxing scene as well,” McGregor said. “That’s a very serious thought. That’s a very serious conversation that’s happening, so we’ll see. I’ve got those wrestling guys trying to contact me, as well. I’ve got Hollywood trying to contact me, as well. I’ve got all the options.”

As far as his UFC career goes, though, McGregor said his priority is a chat with UFC officials. He said he still hasn’t spoken with the new UFC owners, and no progress toward his next fight will be made until he does.

“I know (UFC President) Dana (White’s) been on record like, ’10 months – he’s taking 10 months,'” McGregor said. “I just don’t know. I’m weighing out my options. I expect conversation. I expect them to fly that jet to me. Ari (Emanuel), Patrick (Whitesell) – the new owners from WME-IMG – the guys who bought the UFC for $4 billion? I want to speak with them.

“I want to see what their plan is because right now I don’t know nobody’s plan. All I know is they’re trying to type onto a keyboard and say, ‘We’re taking this belt and that belt, and we’re doing this and that.’ You ain’t doing nothing without contacting me first. I’m ready for anything.”

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