If not stripped and not vacated, than what is it?

[Superman Elbow]

Dana keeps saying its for the undisputed belt...but won't say that Connor is going to be stripped...than wtf is happening? I feel like they are just giving Connor the chance to vacate so he isn't stripped, but what if he never vacates. Once Khabib vs Ferguson happens and one of the wins, and yet Connor was never officially stripped or vacated I feel like its going to be some Jon Jones BS where everyone is calling them a paper champ and the status of Connor won't have ever been determined. Thoughts?

 

[Dontfight]

Will be stripped when the fight actually happens. They dont want to risk Khabib or Tony getting injured again.

 

[moogie101]

Conor is the sports biggest draw so they are protecting him in case he returns.

Conor not fighting draws FAR more media attention than if Khabib fought Tony a hundred times

 

[Calipwnia]

It's dumbfuckery. If you press Dana too hard he just gets pissed and starts calling you names. Can't ask too many questions about it.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

sherdog search has actually gotten a lot better since they broke it restructuring the site in '08 or '09. i searched the term 'stripped' with a 'Newer than' date of Thursday the 18th (since the news broke on the 19th) and found a few hundred other threads just like yours.

your answer is there.

but the answer you will find is, no one here knows, lots of people guess. some think it's legal/contractual issues. others just think Dana has something up his sleeve / keeping his options open. and about 20 other guesses.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Will be stripped when the fight actually happens. They dont want to risk Khabib or Tony getting injured again.

Then why not say this? If that is the plan come out and say it. I think we are going to have 2 champions at LW. This is Dana and the UFC we are talking about and it is business as normal.

 

[mirror45]

Ariel owned dana

 

[Cro Cop Is Back]

Conor will jump into the cage post fight and confront the winner of Khabib-Ferg. Dana will then announce a champion vs champion fight at 155 to settle things once and for all.

 

[DaleBoca]

Ariel almost cried when he said "Then what is it?" You know damn well he would've never asked that question if he wasn't thrown out on his ass outside of the Forum.

And yeah, Ariel did own Dana there. ROFL@ at that bald goof.

Oh, TS, it's then Then not Than.

 

[bootsy]

Stracated, obvs

 

[IsNormal]

Maybe they're just holding back the announcement because of some dumb thing like a TV show wanting to announce Conor as "current UFC champ"

If Dana had said during the presser that "Conor will be stripped" it will be harder to announce him as the champ for all the time leading up to the fight.
So they might wanna let him gain some more $ from a few more weeks of champ status.

I feel like its going to be some Jon Jones BS where everyone is calling them a paper champ

But Jon was stripped.

So when Conor is stripped some will call the winner of Ferguson vs Khabib a paper champ.

 

[Zangief HW GOAT]

He'll wait until the fight actually happens to strip him.

 

[Loiosh]

So when Conor is stripped some will call the winner of Ferguson vs Khabib a paper champ.

Just imagine what they'd be saying if it was Conor waiting for a shot at a title, and the champion didn't defend it for more than a year.

 

[whaleshark]

Defecated

 

[iWas]

Conor will jump into the cage post fight and confront the winner of Khabib-Ferg. Dana will then announce a champion vs champion fight at 155 to settle things once and for all.

Would be epic, cant argue with that. Is it fair, maybe not... But epic, hell yes!

 

[GODZILLA213]

Purgatory. The belt is in purgatory.

 

[IsNormal]

With the amount of times Khabib vs Tony has been cancelled, it might be a safe bet not to strip any belts in advance.
Cause you might not want either of them fighting a last-minute replacement to be for the title.

And then you'd have to unstrip Conor if they can't book another title-worthy fight before he returns.

/Devil's advocate

(this is a bit of a dumb argument though, you could say that about any situation where someone is gonna get stripped. like when Jones was getting stripped someone could've said "what if DC gets injured? we can't have some replacements fighting for the title, better not strip Jon before fight-day")

 

[Superman Elbow]

Maybe they're just holding back the announcement because of some dumb thing like a TV show wanting to announce Conor as "current UFC champ"

If Dana had said during the presser that "Conor will be stripped" it will be harder to announce him as the champ for all the time leading up to the fight.
So they might wanna let him gain some more $ from a few more weeks of champ status.
But Jon was stripped.

So when Conor is stripped some will call the winner of Ferguson vs Khabib a paper champ.

At least Jones was actually stripped for a reason...its sad to say but connor's legacy is actually worse than Jones based on the fact that Connor has no excuse for if he gets stripped.

 

[Siesta]

Dana keeps saying its for the undisputed belt...but won't say that Connor is going to be stripped...than wtf is happening? I feel like they are just giving Connor the chance to vacate so he isn't stripped, but what if he never vacates. Once Khabib vs Ferguson happens and one of the wins, and yet Connor was never officially stripped or vacated I feel like its going to be some Jon Jones BS where everyone is calling them a paper champ and the status of Connor won't have ever been determined. Thoughts?

Conor has until the Khabib vs Ferguson fight to accept a fight or else he gets stripped.

 

[fractal]

Then why not say this? If that is the plan come out and say it. I think we are going to have 2 champions at LW. This is Dana and the UFC we are talking about and it is business as normal.

Because that sounds too flaky and it solidifies their plan to strip Conor. It's almost better to not say anything, then there is nothing on record. In reality it doesn't matter.
Let Khabib and Tony fight, and then we'll see how this pans out. Clearly Khabib and Tony know it too, but aren't allowed to speak about it.