The move was triggered by a sequence of events that followed
light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier's withdrawal from his
scheduled title defense against Anthony Johnson at UFC 206 on
Dec. 10 due to injury.
McGregor, who knocked out Eddie Alvarez this month to claim the
lightweight crown and become the first fighter in the
promotion's history to hold two UFC belts simultaneously, had
previously said he did not want to give up either title.
He won the featherweight crown by defeating Brazilian Aldo in 13
seconds at UFC 194 last December.
In order to keep a title bout on the UFC 206 card, officials
asked McGregor to relinquish his featherweight title so Max
Holloway and Anthony Pettis could fight for the interim UFC
featherweight championship.
The winner will then face Aldo, who was unbeaten for 10 years
and made seven defenses of his UFC featherweight title before
his loss to McGregor, in 2017 for the unified belt.
(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru)
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