In the almost words of Bruce Buffer, “it’s almost time”. Time for The “Notorious” One to return to the octagon. Recovered from his broken leg, rehabbed, Conor McGregor has been posting how “swole” he looks recently. Now the question is, who gets Conor next.
Silverback ? @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/etNguhm2a9
— McGregor Sports (@McGregor_ent) February 1, 2022
And because he is who he is, he has options. And frankly; there’s a lot of them. At least as of right now. Could McGregor just walk into a title fight at either 155 or 170? Sure. Would both make oodles of money? Absolutely. But like him or not; he is above titles. There is no one he couldn’t fight and sell a place out by himself regardless of the rest of the card.
Realistically he’s looking at a summer return. So that plays a key factor on who’s going to even be available. Here’s a sampling of the early possibilities.
10- Winner of Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon. Providing of course one or both don’t call it a career post-fight. McGregor likes “Cowboy” and his grandmother, so another big payday for him isn’t out of the question. Plus their fight was only 40-seconds, and deserves a do-over. “J-Lau” brings a new face to McGregor.
9- Dan Hooker at lightweight. It’s still up in the air how he’ll look dropping down to featherweight for Arnold Allen. But the Australian belongs at 155, and just needs to work on his defense there. Like the Irishman, he’s rangy so it would be interesting.
8- Jorge Masvidal. Is “Gamebred” dealing with his own title run? Possibly, but not likely anymore. So should he lose to Colby Covington, a fight with McGregor would make more sense next for him. Especially since the pair had some heat.
The Middle Of The Pack
7- Michael Chiesa. One of the injured fighters from the “dolly incident”, and the only person to personally sue McGregor the story could be retold. And knowing the way the UFC’s ad team works; it would be. The only thing going against “Maverick” is he’s a little too hot right now. Especially for McGregor’s first-fight back.
6 & 5- Frankie Edgar at lightweight, and Stephen Thompson at 170. There’s no denying the former 155-Champion Edgar is on the back-9 in his career. The fight between the two was toyed with back at 145, and should have happened during McGregor’s rise. But the rocket he was on, just skipped right over him. Since going down to Bantamweight, he’s 1-2. So it could be the thank you payday as he calls it a career. Plus it would be nice to see him back at his best weight.
As far as “Wonderboy” goes, there’s no one nicer in the game. There are killers at the top of Welterweight that just are not good matchups for him anymore. Much like with Edgar, this could be the company saying thank you. It would be intriguing to see the karate style against McGregor’s early come forward power.
4- Dustin Poirier at either 155 or 170. Recently at Bellator 273, “The Diamond” looked more stocky than usual. So perhaps there’s been the decision to move up. Now whether it’s to face Nate Diaz, McGregor for the fourth-time, or someone else is anyone’s guess at this point. Although having a fourth-fight is something the UFC doesn’t really do. Although the way the trilogy ended, McGregor absolutely wants this fight.
Who Gets Conor Next; The Top Picks
3- Nate Diaz.
You can only hold onto a bullet in the chamber for so long. That’s this. Diaz – McGregor 3 might be the most talked about non-trilogy to happen. Do it now while both can stand upright. Diaz is on a skid, and this is one even he’d get up for. And not just the social media chatter he’s had with lots of other fighters. Right now, both of them could really use each other.
2- Rafael Dos Anjos. Another of the woulda, shoulda, coulda happened fights for the Irishman. RDA isn’t going to see a title fight at this point, but still has some firepower left. He also is still decent on the ground, despite him going to the cards in five of his last six fights. He could get McGregor to tap to something, if he could side-step the early charge and get a takedown.
Who Gets Conor Next… The One That Should Happen
1- Tony Ferguson.
Let’s face it. These two have trash-talked each other so much, it just needs to happen finally. And with “El Cucuy” in a bit of a struggle right now, the timing is solid. Neither need a belt, and both are serious draws. Ferguson is still a freak when it comes to training methods, and as an Eddie Bravo disciple, no matter how bleak things look, has a million ways to beat you. The chatter is Michael Chandler is up next for him. That will only put him on a 4-fight losing streak. It’s bad enough that MMA fans missed out on Ferguson-Khabib. We shouldn’t have to have this one added to the list of “what if’s”?
Who Gets Conor Next, The Final Word…
McGregor and Dana White are about to start some serious conversations, but you can be guaranteed the name they come up with is somewhere on this list.
