Uncertainty surrounds Conor McGregor’s UFC lightweight title
Khabib Nurmagomedov and interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will fight in April for the undisputed lightweight title held by Conor McGregor.
Got that?
It was a confusing scenario laid out by UFC president Dana White in announcing Nurmagomedov and Ferguson would headline UFC 223 in Brooklyn, New York on April 7.
White has said McGregor would need to set a timetable to defend the title or be stripped, but it appears no official date has been set as a deadline for a decision.
For now, he’s still champion.
Maybe.
“It’s undisputed,” White said of what belt would be on the line between Ferguson and Nurmagomedov. “I said it would be. I said that the guy that wins this fight will be the champion.
“We’ll see what happens (with McGregor’s belt).”
White has been adamant the division can’t be held up waiting on McGregor to return. He was stripped of his featherweight title in December 2016 when it was clear he didn’t intend to return to the weight class anytime soon.
McGregor last competed in the UFC in November 2016 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight title. His only action of 2017 was a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“Leading into the Mayweather fight I made it pretty clear,” White said. “I’ve been in this business a very long time and when you make an obscene amount of money like that, who knows if they’ll ever come back?”
This will be the fourth time Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have been scheduled to fight, though they have yet to step in the cage against one another.
Jedrzejczyk rematch set
Former women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejcyzk will get an immediate chance to reclaim the belt she lost to Rose Namajunas in November.
A rematch between the two has officially been set for the UFC 223 card in Brooklyn.
Namajunas took the title with a first-round knockout of Jedrzejczyk at Madison Square Garden in November.
CM Punk to get second chance
Former WWE superstar Phil Brooks, who performed under the pseudonym CM Punk, didn’t fare so well when he attempted real fighting as he got submitted in the first round by Mickey Gall in 2016.
Brooks wants a chance at redemption and it looks like he’s going to get it.
“I like that guy. He’s a good dude,” White told The Associated Press over the weekend. “He wants one more. He wants to get another shot and I’m going to give it to him.”
No specifics were offered as to when the 40-year-old Brooks would fight again or any potential opponents.
“He’s a completely different case than most normal human beings, so I’m going to give him another shot,” White said.
Rivera handed four-year ban
UFC bantamweight Francisco Rivera was banned for four years after an independent arbitrator heard the case against him presented by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
An out-of-competition sample collected from the 36-year-old Californian on July 23, 2016 tested positive for clenbuterol.
Rivera had argued he may have ingested the substance due to tainted meat during a trip to Mexico, but USADA countered to the arbiter the levels of clenbuterol in Rivera’s system were too high for such an occurrence.
Rivera’s suspension is retroactive to Aug. 17, 2016. He has lost his last three fights in the UFC and five of his last six.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.
