Cub Swanson: Conor McGregor Made Featherweight Ridiculous
The winner of tonight’s (Dec. 10, 2016) UFC 206 main event between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis will likely go on to meet Jose Aldo, who was recently promoted to undisputed 145-pound champion after the UFC stripped McGregor of his title. The Irishman, who now also holds the promotion’s lightweight strap, hadn’t defended the 145-pound title since winning it last December.
Some have had mixed feelings on the situation, but fellow featherweight contender Cub Swanson, who will also fight tonight, couldn’t be happier:
“I think a lot of people look at it like, oh man, this division sucks now, but I couldn’t be happier,” Cub Swanson said at the Ultimate Media Day on Thursday (Via MMAFighting). “I think what he was doing to the division was ridiculous. I thought the way it was handled was stupid. There’s only one belt, and you hold it hostage for so long. We had a champion in [Jose] Aldo who has been dominant, and amazing, but he hardly fought.
“So if we’re lucky enough to get a fight with him, your next chance would be so far down the road. And then Conor comes in, wins, [you think] okay, this is exciting…and then he fights one time, and leaves the division for two different weight classes.”
At the end of the day, Swanson feels as if what McGregor was doing simply wasn’t fair to the rest of the division:
“It just wasn’t fair to anybody else in the division,” he said. “It was like, why are we fighting? What is our end goal? We have nothing. So it was just, you know, you can look at it in different ways, but honestly, in my opinion, it was ridiculous. I’m glad to see our division rolling again, and I think you’re going to see exciting fights that people will appreciate.”
Do you agree with Swanson’s comments?
