McGregor vacating his UFC featherweight title was right call Gray to hang up his rodeo spurs

In my last Crunch Time column (Nov. 17, 2016), I wrote that mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, who became the first athlete to simultaneously hold a championship in two weight divisions, (featherweight and lightweight) in the UFC, was seeking to own a stake in the organization.

Since then, McGregor has gone from holding two championships to just having the lightweight belt — and he didn’t even lose the other one in a fight.

The UFC announced that McGregor vacated the featherweight championship last Saturday, Nov. 26 in favor of keeping his lightweight belt.

Jose Aldo, who won the interim title in July, was promoted to undisputed champion status. He will face the winner of the fight between Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway, who will clash for the interim featherweight title at UFC 206.

McGregor’s path to becoming featherweight champion was noteworthy. He defeated Chad Mendes for an interim title in July 2015, because Aldo, who was the undisputed champion, was injured. The Irishman would face Aldo and knock him out in 13 seconds — the fastest championship victory in UFC history — to win the undisputed title.

But while McGregor’s rise to the 145-pound champion was historic, his actual reign was not. The former champion said he intended to defend the featherweight title, going as far to say the UFC would have to “send an army” to take away one of his belts, but he never signed a contract for a title defense. In his 350 days of holding the belt, he fought a two-bout welterweight series against Nate Diaz and defeated Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title. McGregor never had a scheduled title defense, which upset several fighters including Aldo, who requested a release from his UFC contract before he got his belt back.

There are some critics who argue that McGregor was “forced” by the UFC to relinquish his championship — since it was color commentator John Aink who made the announcement and not the champion himself. McGregor, who isn’t scheduled to fight until May 2017, has yet to make a statement about the issue.

Even if McGregor’s relinquishment of the title wasn’t amicable, the UFC is within their rights to take the belt from him, even if it makes them look bad in front of the fans.

Personally, I think McGregor vacating the featherweight belt was a good decision for a couple of reasons. First, it allows that championship to be held by an active titleholder instead of someone who fights in other weight classes.

When a champion holds a title, they will defend it 1-2 times a year. Some champions, like Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey, would defend their belts 3-4 times a year.

Having an active champion allows other contenders to have an opportunity to fight for that title. Yes, the UFC can create an “interim title,” but those belts aren’t held in high regard. Interim championships are created when regular champions cannot defend their titles because of injury, contract dispute, legal reasons or other circumstances.

I think they serve a purpose in the right situation and add stakes to a fight, but fans and critics argue they cheapen the UFC’s product. But many of those voices are OK with the organization allowing a former professional wrestler — who has no fighting experience — get destroyed in two minutes (See: Phil “C.M. Punk” Brooks).

Other fighters will look at an interim titleholder and say “he’s not the real champion” or “that belt’s fake.”

On the flip side, McGregor vacating the title allows him to continue to look strong in front of fans. When he does press conferences or interviews to hype his fights, McGregor can boast that he was never defeated for the championship. He could also add fuel to the conspiracy theories and say “I didn’t want to give up the belt, but the UFC took it away from me.”

And it’s not like McGregor can’t win the featherweight title ever again. He’s not banned from competing at 145 in the future. If he decides to fight at featherweight, he could probably go to the UFC and demand a title shot at whoever is the champion. Given how big of a star he is, they would probably give it to him.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.