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John Kavanagh 'very disappointed' with how UFC stripped Conor McGregor of his belt

John Kavanagh has expressed his disappointment at how the UFC went about stripping Conor McGregor...



John Kavanagh 'very disapp...
Golf

John Kavanagh 'very disappointed' with how UFC stripped Conor McGregor of his belt

John Kavanagh has expressed his disappointment at how the UFC went about stripping Conor McGregor of his featherweight belt.

News of McGregor surrendering his belt emerged over the weekend, with initial reports indicating that the dual-division champion voluntarily relinquished the strap but that was disputed by reporters including Ariel Helwani.

Helwani said the UFC 'botched' the operation on his The MMA Hour show last night and stated that Daniel Cormier's injury should have no implications on the featherweight grade.

Speaking on RedFM, Kavanagh echoed Helwani's sentiments and also lamented the short period of Conor's reign as the featherweight champion.

"For me personally, I was very disappointed with how they (UFC) went about doing it," he said. "It was a very messy set of circumstances which led to doing it. They lost a main event (at UFC 206) and then they haphazardly threw together a new main event.

"They felt they had to make this for a title in order for it to sell so they brought in another interim title that Jose Aldo already has and then bumped Jose Aldo up to the current undisputed champion. Which just seems ridiculous to me.

"Conor has only been 11 months since he won that title. There have been many, many examples of fighters waiting 15 months, 18 months before defending it. He’s 11 months and they stripped him of it.

"I thought it was very shortsighted by the UFC how they went about doing it."

Extensive injuries, positive drug tests and complications involved in switching to different fighting franchises, are among the reasons for the stripping of belts in the past.

Given that McGregor's position is unprecedented in the UFC, his situation is different. McGregor remains the lightweight champion, which he achieved at UFC 205 with a comprehensive win over Eddie Alvarez.

 

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