If Conor McGregor retires, UFC 200’s Aldo vs. Edgar will be for featherweight belt

UFC President Dana White thinks UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is going to fight again. But if he doesn’t, the event he left behind is going to get a little bit more interesting.

White today told FOX Sports’ “The Herd” he’d put the undisputed featherweight title up for grabs if McGregor decides to stay retired.

“The thing is, Conor needs to clear up this whole retirement thing and clear it up fast, because if he’s retired, then at UFC 200, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar are fighting for the vacant title,” White said.

UFC 200 was to feature McGregor (19-10 MMA, 14-8 UFC) in a bid to avenge a high-profile loss to Nate Diaz (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) at UFC 196. But as of now, White is looking for a replacement opponent for Diaz and seeks to add two more fights to the July 9 pay-per-view at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. Aldo (25-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and Edgar (20-4-1 MMA, 14-4-1 UFC) were lined up to battle for the interim featherweight belt in the co-main event.

It appears that, for now, McGregor isn’t quite ready to clear things up. One day after announcing his retirement on Twitter, quipping, “Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya’s later,” the Irish superstar Wednesday afternoon deleted the tweet, “I’m going to make an announcement.”

So for now, the reason for McGregor’s sudden retirement has been provided by White, who said the featherweight champ didn’t want to show up for media obligations in connection with UFC 200.

White told Jim Rome he’s moving on whether or not McGregor decides to retire, but thinks his decision came more out of emotion than reason. If and when McGregor decides to come back, the UFC executive said he’s welcome to fight.

“Conor McGregor will fight again, I believe,” White said. “He’s a young guy. He’s a proud guy. He’s very opinionated, and I think yesterday his tweet was out of frustration and not the true desire to retire.”

And in any event, McGregor is under contract with the UFC, so that means his MMA career is on hold until he signals otherwise.

For more on UFC 200, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.