McGregor reached the summit of the lightweight division in November 2016 in the main event of UFC 205, a card which saw him take on then-champion Eddie Alvarez.
A second-round TKO victory over Alvarez saw McGregor claim his third UFC belt and become the first fighter in the promotion’s history to hold two titles simultaneously.
McGregor has yet to defend the lightweight crown, a failure which resulted in the introduction of an interim 155lbs title.
The Irishman’s failure to defend his title, which was in part down to his multi-million-pound boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, has irked many in the lightweight division, including Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov, as well as many others, reckons the UFC brass should’ve forced McGregor to vacate the lightweight crown months ago.
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“If he doesn’t have injuries, and he doesn’t defend his belt for more than a year, then it’s very bad,” Nurmagomedov said during an online Q&A session.
“But when you are the champion and you don’t have an injury, you have to defend it. I really liked how Georges St-Pierre acted in a similar situation.
“Once he understood, that he won’t be able to fight, he didn’t hold his division (in wait). And that’s the decision of a real champion.
“Conor doesn’t defend his belt. I don’t even know when he is going to do that. He has the name, it’s profitable for the UFC that he is the champion.
“They make money because of him and they won’t strip him off the belt. But in my opinion, Conor had to be stripped off his belt a long time ago. And Tony Ferguson should be the real champion.”
McGregor, 21-3, hasn’t set foot inside the Octagon since his historic UFC 205 victory Alvarez, much to the frustration of many in the lightweight division.
His next fight is expected to be a lightweight title unification bout against interim 155lbs champion Tony Ferguson.