Yahoo Sports Dana White: Conor McGregor Can't Hold Two UFC Belts
Featherweight champion Conor McGregor has the opportunity to become a two-division UFC champion when he faces lightweight titleholder Eddie Alvarez in the UFC 205 main event on November 12. Only two other fighters have ever achieved that accolade: Randy Couture and B.J. Penn.
While winning titles in two different weight classes has been done before, no one has ever held belts in two divisions at the same time. McGregor plans to make history by becoming the first, but he won't hang on to one of the straps for very long.
“He’ll fight (Alvarez). If he wins, he’ll hold two belts, and then he’ll decide which one he's going to give back to me,” UFC president Dana White said during an appearance on UFC Tonight.
McGregor won the 145-pound title at UFC 194 last December by knocking out longtime champion Jose Aldo in the first exchange of the fight. He hasn't fought at that weight since. He was scheduled to face then lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196, but dos Anjos pulled out of the fight due to injury, and McGregor's chance at two-division history seemingly vanished when he lost to late replacement Nate Diaz.
McGregor and Diaz rematched at UFC 202 in August, and McGregor avenged his lone UFC defeat. At UFC 205, McGregor fights for the third time without defending his featherweight title, and that is why he can't hold two belts concurrently.
“You can't hold them both. He'll have accomplished this, and then he'll have to figure out which one he wants to give up,” said White. “You can't tie up two divisions for that long.”
