'I still got that belt...someone has to come take it from me'

Conor McGregor has broken his silence on the decision to strip him of the UFC featherweight title, suggesting he may not vacate the belt after all.

McGregor made history at UFC 205 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title, making him the first dual champion in the promotion's history.

But UFC boss Dana White recently made the decision to strip McGregor of the belt he originally held due to the fact that he hadn't and wouldn't be able to defend the featherweight title for over 12 months.

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And the Irishman has finally had his say on the matter.

"The UFC, they're trying to strip me and I was like, 'Well, I ain't stripped. I still got that belt, that belt is still at home right now'," McGregor said in a Q&A session in Ireland.

"I'm still the two-way world champion, someone has to come take that from me. I see articles, I see stuff online, but I don't see the belt not in my presence. The belt is right there, there's two world titles at my home."

"Eddie (Alvarez) is still unconscious," McGregor continued. "Them belts are mine. Whatever they want to say, and they can say, 'Oh we took the belt and now it's this guy's belt,' you can play with those fake belts all you want. Jose was KO'ed, Eddie was KO'ed, you're looking at the two-weight world champion and that's it."

"I'll say to the UFC, and I love their company, you're fooling nobody, you're fooling nobody with that."

However White was adamant Conor had given up his belt and explained why the decision had to be made.

"Look, I let Conor fight (Nate) Diaz and then, I let him fight Diaz again," White said. "Then, there was the whole 155-pound thing I let him do. But at the end of the day, him doing that tied up the (featherweight) division for a year. There's a logjam there and a lot of guys were (angry).

"This was my way to fix it. I wanted Aldo to fight (Max) Holloway for the belt, but he needed more time. So I looked at it and I said, well, it makes sense to make Aldo the champion and then have Holloway and (Anthony) Pettis fight for the interim title, and when Jose's ready, barring any crazy injuries, the winner can fight him."

McGregor's coach John Kavanagh slammed White earlier this week.

"Conor has only been (champion) 11 months since he won that title. There have been many, many examples of fighters waiting 15 months, 18 months before defending it. He's 11 months and they stripped him of it. I thought it was very shortsighted by the UFC how they went about doing it."

However White dismissed Kavanagh's claims of McGregor being forced to hand over the belt.

"He's misinformed," White said. "Yeah, he doesn't know all that has gone on, I guess. Do you think I just did this? This was Conor's decision."

It certainly has been a massive week for McGregor, who took a giant step towards a superfight with Floyd Mayweather by obtaining a boxing licence in California.