McGregor relinquishes featherweight belt: UFC

NEW YORK: UFC’s first dual division champion Conor McGregor has relinquished his featherweight title with Jose Aldo replacing the Irishman as the category’s undisputed champion, officials said on Saturday.

The move was triggered by a sequence of events that followed light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier’s withdrawal from his scheduled title defense against Anthony Johnson at UFC 206 on Dec. 10 due to injury.

McGregor, who knocked out Eddie Alvarez this month to claim the lightweight crown and become the first fighter in the promotion’s history to hold two UFC belts simultaneously, had previously said he did not want to give up either title.

He won the featherweight crown by defeating Brazilian Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194 last December.

In order to keep a title bout on the UFC 206 card, officials asked McGregor to relinquish his featherweight title so Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis could fight for the interim UFC featherweight championship.

The winner will then face Aldo, who was unbeaten for 10 years and made seven defenses of his UFC featherweight title before his loss to McGregor, in 2017 for the unified belt.