Has Conor McGregor become bigger than the UFC?

That's the question that seems to keep cropping up as of late as the Irishman sets his sights on big money fights rather than title fights.

How that could stain his legacy seems secondary to his bank account from the outside looking in, but as the biggest draw in UFC history by some distance, it comes with the territory.

McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather in the most lucrative fight in the history of any sport last August, so the question has always been: what does McGregor do now?

The Notorious One has been teasing facing Mayweather once more - this time in the octagon - but there has been precious little said about finally defending his UFC lightweight title - a title he won back in November 2016.

Since then, Tony Ferguson has become the interim lightweight champion and Khabin Nurmagomedov has forced his way to the number one contender spot, most recently hammering Edson Barboza.

Now, UFC president Dana White has told Conor McGregor exactly what will happen if he doesn't agree to fight in the next few months.

"If he waits until August or September, that'll have been about two years since the belt has been defended and that can't happen," White said.

"If he doesn't want to fight and wants to sit out until next fall and then we would have to make Khabib [Nurmagomedov] versus Tony [Ferguson] for the title, not the interim title."

McGregor, 29, may well be the first-ever dual-weight champion in UFC history, but the fact that he's never defended a title in the company in the three-and-a-half years he's been there is a blemish against his name.

The fans want to see it and the Irishman is running out of time and excuses to do otherwise.

However, it must be said, the UFC have milked their cash cow for what he is worth and sanctioned his dual-weight bout with Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt, and, they let him go after Nate Diaz twice while featherweight champion.

They are as much to blame as anyone, but surely now enough is enough.