{"id":211355,"date":"2016-11-27T07:45:30","date_gmt":"2016-11-27T15:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=211355"},"modified":"2016-11-27T07:50:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-27T15:50:32","slug":"mma-community-reacts-conor-mcgregor-relinquishing-ufc-featherweight-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/conor-mcgregor\/mma-community-reacts-conor-mcgregor-relinquishing-ufc-featherweight-title\/","title":{"rendered":"MMA community reacts to Conor McGregor relinquishing the UFC featherweight title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last December, Ireland’s Conor McGregor won the UFC featherweight title with a 13 second knockout of Jose Aldo<\/a>. In his next fight, he was expected to take on then lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos for a shot at a second UFC belt. When Dos Anjos withdrew from this planned contest with an injury, however, McGregor would take on Nate Diaz on just 11 days’ notice \u2013 a fight he would famously lose<\/a>. From there, McGregor would rematch Diaz, this time walking away with a hard-fought majority decision win<\/a>. His next and most recent bout would see him get the lightweight title shot he was originally supposed to get against Dos Anjos \u2013 though the champion by this point was Eddie Alvarez. McGregor would dominate Alvarez to a second-round TKO<\/a>, becoming the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously as he did.<\/p>\n

If math isn’t your strong suit, that’s three fights McGregor has taken since he won the UFC featherweight title almost a year ago \u2013 and not one of them was a defense of that title. Though he is an undeniably talented fighter, he’s hardly the picture of an active champion.<\/p>\n

McGregor’s fights in the welterweight and lightweight divisions have slowed things down considerably at featherweight. The UFC was forced to crown an interim champion in Jose Aldo, while the rest of the division’s contenders were forced to skirmish amongst themselves with no undisputed champion to gun for.<\/p>\n

Last night, during the UFC Fight Night 101<\/a> broadcast, the UFC finally slammed down the hammer, announcing that McGregor had “relinquished” the featherweight title<\/a>, and that Jose Aldo had been promoted to undisputed champion. Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis, meanwhile, will fight for the interim featherweight belt at UFC 206, replacing a scrapped Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson bout as the card’s new main event.<\/p>\n

As of now, neither McGregor nor Aldo has produced a public reaction to this strange twist. Yet the news has generated reactions from many of the games top fighters \u2013 including Holloway and Pettis \u2013 as well as many respected MMA journalists and commentators.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the best reactions to this massive shakeup at featherweight:<\/p>\n

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News is official Dec 10 I'll be fighting for the @ufc<\/a> interim 145 title thank you all for the support #ufc206<\/a> #maxforgold<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/1XoWVzPM1s<\/a><\/p>\n

— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) November 27, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n