Conor McGregor Jose Aldo
McGregor beat Aldo for the featherweight title in just 13 seconds Getty

KEY POINTS

  • McGregor won the featherweight title from Jose Aldo at UFC 194.
  • The Irishman was stripped off the title nearly a year later.

As his fight with Floyd Mayweather approaches, Conor McGregor claims he still believes he is the UFC featherweight champion.

The Irishman became the featherweight champion when he knocked out Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds at UFC 194 in December 2015.

However, rather than defending his title, McGregor fought Nate Diaz twice in welterweight bouts before going on to become the first ever two-weight champion by defeating former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016.

The 29-year-old was stripped of the title shortly afterwards as the company desperately needed an interim title fight for UFC 206 in December as then-interim champion Aldo was awarded the title.

Max Holloway went on to become the interim champion before shocking the world and defeating Jose Aldo at UFC 212 in June 2017 in a unification bout as he will now likely face either Cub Swanson or Frankie Edgar in his first title defence.

McGregor, who defeated Holloway via unanimous decision back in 2013, says the fact that he has beaten both the current and previous champion means he still reigns supreme over that division.

"I mean, how can I not consider myself the UFC featherweight world champion and the UFC lightweight world champion?" McGregor said, as quoted on MMAFighting. "The current UFC featherweight world champion is Max Holloway, a man who I dismantled, and the former was Jose Aldo. I still reign supreme over that division."

"And then also, the 155-pound division, I know there's talks of an interim belt — I'd only won that belt, and literally a month later there was an interim scheduled.

"But it is what it is, everyone knows I am the multiple-weight world champion of the UFC's featherweight division and lightweight division, and I look forward to going back and continuing where I left off."

With his boxing bout with Mayweather taking place on 26 August, many have been wondering whether McGregor will return to the octagon afterwards.

However, with him claiming that he is looking forward to going back along with his manager's claims that he will definitely return to mixed martial arts, fans can expect to see the "Notorious" back in UFC action soon.

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