Some things seem official, others don’t. After Daniel Cormier pulled out of a fight with Anthony Johnson, the UFC has decided to push the co-main event up to main event status in Toronto – and added quite the stipulation. According to MMA Fighting, Max Holloway will face Anthony Pettis for the interim featherweight title in the headlining bout at UFC 206 on December 10th.
But where does this leave Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo? McGregor currently holds the full version of the title, while Aldo has an interim belt of his own.
Here’s what Ariel Helwani stated in his MMA Fighting post:
“As a result, Jose Aldo, who was the interim featherweight champion, will likely become the new 145-pound champion, which also means that Conor McGregor is expected to be stripped of the featherweight title. He remains the lightweight champion.
McGregor hasn’t necessarily agreed to give up his title, but legally the UFC is within its rights to strip him if they choose to.”
So while they have set up the UFC 206 headliner to accommodate a title fight, the promotion hasn’t actually officially handled the business of taking Conor’s belt or making Aldo the full champion as of yet.
It’ll be very interesting to see how McGregor reacts if the promotion does decide to strip him against his will. But for now, we get to see an excellent 145-pound fight in December over five rounds instead of three, with a lot more at stake.
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