Conor McGregor forced to relinquish UFC featherweight title as Jose Aldo becomes new champion

McGregor made history earlier this month after knocking out Eddie Alvarez in New York to claim the lightweight crown and become the UFC’s first dual division champion

Conor McGregor's reign as a dual-division champion lasted little more than two weeks (Getty)

Conor McGregor has relinquished his featherweight title with Jose Aldo replacing the Irishman as the category's undisputed champion, officials said on Saturday.

The move was triggered by a sequence of events that followed light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier's withdrawal from his scheduled title defence against Anthony Johnson at UFC 206 on December 10 due to injury.

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 Jose Aldo, who has now been elevated to undisputed champion, in 2017 for the unified belt.

Aldo was unbeaten for 10 years and made seven defences of his UFC featherweight title before his loss to McGregor. The Brazilian was beaten in 13 seconds at UFC 194 last December.

McGregor went on to make history earlier this month after knocking out Eddie Alvarez in New York to claim the lightweight crown and become the UFC’s first dual division champion.

But having been forced to vacate his featherweight title his reign lasted little more than two weeks.

Additional reporting by Reuters.