Conor McGregor has relinquished his UFC featherweight belt and is no longer a simultaneous dual-weight champion, according to the UFC.
An announcement from the company last night states that McGregor has opted to vacate the featherweight title in order to keep the lightweight strap.
Respected MMA reporter Ariel Helwani however, has countered those reports, stating that McGregor never agreed to this.
UFC says McGregor has "relinquished" the 145 title. I'm told he never agreed to that, as we reported earlier, but UFC w/i rights to strip.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 27, 2016
Former champion Jose Aldo is currently holding the interim featherweight title and will now be upgraded to the undisputed champion and take McGregor's belt.
McGregor first became took the featherweight throne last December, overthrowing Aldo inside the first 13 seconds of the opening round. After two successive bouts against Nate Diaz, McGregor then proceeded to challenge the lightweight title against Eddie Alvarez at the inaugural UFC night in New York two weeks ago.
After the fight, McGregor announced that he will become a father next year and hinted at a break from the sport to commit to his family.
When asked what his next goal in UFC was, McGregor seemed intrigued by the prospect of chasing a third title. While he didn't make any comment on the night about vacating either of the belts that he currently possesses, he has previously said that he would trade in his featherweight one should he succeed at UFC 205.
McGregor is yet to respond to the reports and his last Tweet was a congratulations message to Katie Taylor following her successful pro-debut last night.
That was a clinical performance @KatieTaylor!
Congratulations champ 🀗 Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 26, 2016
