Dana:"McGregor will get the next lw title shot if he wins tonight. Khabib will do what he’s told."

[TAK47]

Of course they can. It's their belt and company, if the champion doesn't do his job, they're well within their right to step him. Doubt they'll do it though

Yeah from a business / legal point of view they can of course.
But it would be a massive blow to their brand and legitimacy as a sports org. if the president strips the champ for not defending against his favorite who doesnt deserve a TS by any measures.

 

[MMAfanboy4life]

Khabib/ Dana boxing match incoming

 

[IamStryker]

Hopefully Cerrone ruins the bald goofs plans.

 

[275others]

Wondering that as well.
Can the UFC strip an undisputed champion for declining a title defense against an effectively unranked and entirely undeserving opponent?

After the bmf belt, I think it's pretty clear the UFC can and will do whatever they feel like.

 

[submerged88]

Khabib should tell the UFC he is going to bring up Conors Rape allegations every chance he gets and then see how the UFC feels about making this match.

 

[Scurvydawg]

Khaboob is sitting at home laughing his ass off. Reverse psychology at its finest. All he ever talks about is Canner this and Canner that. How he does not want a rematch. How he will fight this guy and that guy before him. No Canner.

It worked. Now if Conrad wins he gets a title shot and Khabub walks away with another huge easy payday. Totally played everyone. Now he gets to pretend that it bugs him and its unfair to top it all off. He will milk it for all its worth to. Every facet of the fight. Every moral atrocity. Everything. He is a diva extraordinaire. They both are so this is not really surprising news. Seems to be playing out as planned.

 

[Quitcherbichen]

Not a fan of Dana White. But he's right. It's his company. If he tells anyone that works for the UFC to bend over, they will bend over to keep their job. It's that simple. He's the boss, the fighters are his employees. He's not wrong on that one.

They are not employees

 

[josh345]

I don’t see what’s so bad about this. Isn’t cowboy still top 5? Oh yeah he lost to bums like Ferguson and Geathe....and he had a quick rebound for the gaethe fight. Add on top of that Conor vs khabib was the biggest ufc ppv ever.

 

[chrass]

It sounded more like he thought khabib would def take the fight because it would be huge ppv. Someone else said khabib will do what hes told. (probably by ali) Justin should fight poirier just so his case is more indisputable. (if connor wins) or go hard for the connor fight

 

[Cylence]

They can strip him if they want, but he takes the lineage of the lightweight championship with him.

So, lets say Khabib beats Tony (no small task) and refuses to fight Conor. The UFC sets up Conor/Dustin for the vacant championship, and then sets up Khabib/Justin for nothing.

The title then becomes irrelevant, because we all know who the real greatest lightweight fighter in the world is.

Or they strip him, and he just says fuck off and retires.

 

[TAK47]

After the bmf belt, I think it's pretty clear the UFC can and will do whatever they feel like.

My point was more that this move would be indefensible. Then again, it's not like any of these fake MMA journalists would ever challenge Dana.

 

[275others]

My point was more that this move would be indefensible. Then again, it's not like any of these fake MMA journalists would ever challenge Dana.

Is the bmf defensible? Is giving a ts to Dan Henderson against Bisping defensible? I don't think so. Any integrity the sport had is long gone.

 

[HHJ]

Is the bmf defensible? Is giving a ts to Dan Henderson against defensible? I don't think so. Any integrity the sport had is long gone.

Bisping had no problem fighting against henderson. Nate and Mas wanted to fight for the BMF title.

Giving Conor a 155 title shot off a win on cerrone at 170 is an outrage and stripping Khabib for only wanting to fight real contenders is such bullshit. ESPECIALLY considering that Conor may never defend the title if he ends up with again/

 

[IloveTHIS]

tried to tell you all. but some of you drank khabibs koolaid and believed he had more power than he does. Conor is still Danas boy. hes still a much bigger star. still much more valuable as champ than Khabib.

if Khabib refuses, Dana will just strip him and hand the belt right to Conor. tried to tell you but all the Conor ragers went REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE NO 1 CARE ABOUT CONRAD NEMORE

 

[Wardum]

Khabib will rather vacate to prove a point

 

[kevinramsdell]

He defintley didn't say "he will do what he's told". Khabib is a massive star. Arguably as big as Conor and the fight won't be the biggest in the UFC history without him. They will have to throw a shit ton of money at Khabib to get him to take the Conor fight and that's all speculation seeing as Khabib and Tony meet in a couple months.

 

[Normo]

I would piss myself if they made Khabib vs McGregor 2 and McGregor could not get back down to 155. I guarantee we would not hear about it and it would be a sudden illness/injury.

 

[effedup]

A guy with no wins leading up to a TS. Makes sense Dana.

 

[Wogman]

 

[Aluminati]

That is absurd. Khabib is fighting on April 18. Ramadan is roughly 4/23-5/23.

They'll make an announcement sometime in May, that they'll be having an interim title fight for Conor vs (insert favorable matchup here). The fight will take place probably sometime in June or July, with the interim vs lineal at the end of the year.