Morning Report: Dana White says Conor McGregor won't be stripped of title

Dana White might not be too popular with several of his high profile fighters soon.

In case you missed it, Conor McGregor managed to even things up with Nate Diaz, winning a unanimous decision at UFC 202. In the immediate aftermath of the bout both men seemed poised to run it back for a third time with McGregor insisting it be held at 155 pounds. But UFC President Dana White had other ideas.

Speaking with several outlets afterwards, White said that McGregor must go defend his featherweight championship against interim champion Jose Aldo, or else they'll take the belt from him. Later, he amended that to allow for McGregor to challenge Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title. Now it seems like they may not take the belt from him whatever his decision, something sure to anger Aldo who is adamant about a rematch with McGregor.

"He's not gonna get stripped," White said to NBC Sports Radio. "He's gonna make a decision. He knows that the Nate Diaz fight isn't the fight to make right now. He has to either defend his title or give it up and decide what he wants to do next."

It's hard to parse the circumstances here but White seemed confident McGregor wouldn't be relinquishing the title while still saying he needed to defend his 145-pound belt or relinquish it. Perhaps that is a sign that White is confident McGregor will be rematching Jose Aldo next. Or it could mean that the company is prepared to soften its stance with its biggest star. It probably doesn't hurt that UFC 202 was such a tremendous success, even with all the expectations put on it going in.

"Think about this, Pacquiao-Mayweather, the build up for that fight, everything else. That fight didn't live up to the hype and I think, more importantly, it left a really bad taste in people's mouths. I don't think that was the case for Diaz-McGregor [2]. With the amount of people that were pulled in to watch that fight, everybody left satisfied and those are the kind of fights that make you want to come back and watch again."

Early estimates for UFC 202 have it doing between 1.2 and 1.5 million pay-per-view buys, making it one of the three biggest events in UFC history. It is possible that White doesn't want to risk running the third fight back so soon and risk fan fatigue with a trilogy fight.

White also talked about the future of former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and current title holder Daniel Cormier. Jones is looking like he might have a new lease on life, facing a much shorter than expected suspension after failing a UFC 200 drug test. Meanwhile, Cormier has made it clear he has no intention of fighting Jones should he return soon, something Dana White agrees with. Instead, White has his eye on a long sought after match-up.

"You can't blame Cormier. The guy spent money and trained like 3 times and didn't fight Jon Jones. I'm interested in doing Anthony Johnson vs. Jon Jones for the interim title and whoever wins will then go on and face Daniel Cormier."

Johnson scored a devastating knockout over former title challenger Glover Teixeira at UFC 202 and seemingly punched his ticket (pun intended) to a rematch with Cormier for the light heavyweight title. With Cormier and Johnson prepared to fight each other over the official belt, White's tentative plan seems like it won't be received too well by either man.

We'll have to wait to see how each scenario unfolds, but if White has his way, he might have several unhappy fighters on his hands.

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EXTRA CREDIT READING

Tech Talk. Jack Slack's breakdown of Demian Maia's perfect victory against Carlos Condit.

MEDIA STEW

I very much enjoyed this little segment with Gustafsson.

Arlovski putting in the coffin nails here is brutal.

Joey Benz talking through DJ's domination of Cejudo.

Josh Barnett talks about fighting Arlovski and how Rothwell choked him out.

Randy had it McGregor for anyone who cares.

LISTEN UP

Brit Pack

Beatdown is back.

Show the Art w/ Din Thomas

TWEETS

Yes Ken Flo. Yes we are. RIP Gene Wilder.

"We are the music makers. And we are the dreamers of dreams." https://t.co/jumPNv2Nxd

— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) August 29, 2016

Rory is pretty chill about this whole thing.

An investigation of Robbie Lawler’s ‘very suspicious’ test results https://t.co/nwqSP3kXJu via BloodyElbow

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) August 30, 2016

so according to this article all seems fine on the tests i was concerned about

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) August 30, 2016

#claytonbigsby16 pic.twitter.com/Lco35DkMCI

— Derrick Lewis (@Thebeast_ufc) August 29, 2016

Nate still going in.

2-0

A photo posted by natediaz209 (@natediaz209) on Aug 29, 2016 at 4:26pm PDT

Cody really took the "daddy issues" comment personally and I can understand why.

@dominickcruz says I have daddy issues? Listen I'm proud of my upbringing it's built me to who I am today. I'm cut from a different cloth as you. I know who I am. I don't try to be someone I'm not! #humblebeginnings

A video posted by Cody Garbrandt (@cody_nolove) on Aug 28, 2016 at 5:24pm PDT

He's back!

Pessoal to saindo agora aqui do Consultorio do @drgelb E adivinha? ele me liberou pra treinar. Estou feliz e estou de volta. Oss | | Hey everybody I'm with @drgelb right now and guess what? He allowed me to start training again. I'm so happy and I'm back to action. Oss

A photo posted by Junior Cigano Dos Santos (@junior_cigano) on Aug 29, 2016 at 3:05pm PDT

Mark Hunt is really angry these days.

I think everybody that lost money should sue especially when these cheaters ruin the sport

A photo posted by The Super Samoan (@markhuntfighter) on Aug 29, 2016 at 2:37pm PDT

Nice.

Training vs fighting: one of my favorite aspects of UFC champions Georges St-Pierre and Chris Weidman is that when they come to train in my classes they always pull guard at the onset of sparring and work bottom position - this despite the fact they they could easily take down everyone in the room if they chose to. They recognize that the value of training here is in submission grappling, so they expose themselves to that as much as possible in the time they have. They work on their submission grappling skills, even though that will make their work much harder - they will work their takedown training with specialists in that area at another location better suited to that skill. This willingness to come into a room and trade skills with specialists is what keeps them learning and improving over time - and yes - both of them give our submission specialists hell even in our specialized domain! They recognize the need for an MMA athlete to see the big picture of skill enhancement for their sport overall as far more important than winning anonymous battles in training rooms by avoiding the skills utilized there and stalling away the training time. They come to gain skills rather than to learn to avoid them. Here Georges St-Pierre works bottom position with Robson Gracie during a tough afternoon training session with the squad.

A photo posted by John Danaher (@danaherjohn) on Aug 29, 2016 at 2:07pm PDT

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Paddy Pimblett (11-1-0) vs. Johnny Frachey (18-10-0); Cage Warriors FC 78, September 10.

Chris Fishgold (14-1-1) vs. Jason Ponet (16-10-1); Cage Warriors FC 78, September 10.

Vaughan Lee (14-12-1) vs. Arnold Quero (13-4-0); Cage Warriors FC 78, September 10.

Mickael Lebout (14-6-1) vs. Tim Wilde (8-2-0); Cage Warriors FC 78, September 10.

Leeroy Barnes (15-15-0) vs. Victor Cheng (10-2-0); Cage Warriors FC 78, September 10.

Ali Arish (21-5-0) vs. Mohsen Bahari (8-3-0); Cage Warriors FC 78, September 10.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Have a good day everyone. See you tomorrow.

If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting because we post dope things and you should enjoy them.