UFC President Dana White has shared loose plans for the future of the promotion’s lightweight championship.<\/p>\n
The status of the UFC lightweight championship has been a mystery for several months, thanks to the retirement of long-time champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.<\/p>\n
Nurmagomedov announced his retirement after submitting Justin Gaethje in October, and has since made it very clear that he doesn’t intend to fight again. White, however, has been optimistic that Nurmagomedov can be convinced to fight again, and has emphasized that the Russian star is still the lightweight champion<\/a> despite his retirement.<\/p>\n If Nurmagomedov does stick to his retirement, of course, the UFC will eventually need to crown a new lightweight champion.<\/p>\n White slowly seems to be accepting that this will be necessary, and updated on how a new champion might be crowned during a conversation with UFC reporter Brett Okamoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n From the sounds of it, the current plan is to have the UFC’s top-7 lightweights duke it out until a clear top dog emerges.\u00a0White also emphasized that if Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor meet in a trilogy fight, as widely expected<\/a>, there will not be a title on the line.<\/p>\n White also shared his seemingly inextinguishable hope that Nurmagomedov will, at some point, fight again.<\/p>\n Dana White tells @bokamotoESPN<\/a> that Conor McGregor is "completely obsessed" with a rematch against Dustin Poirier now. White says "no" when asked if it would be for the title. <\/p>\n He expects that those ranked from 1-7 will all fight it out and the best guy will emerge as champion.<\/p>\n — Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) February 12, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n