Who should Conor McGregor Fight next in the UFC?
McGregor announced his retirement on June 6th via twitter. Since then, MMA fans have been wondering if the superstar will ever enter the octagon (or boxing ring) again.
The UFC makes big bucks every time McGregor enters the octagon with PPV buys and gate, so fighting with no fans during a pandemic doesn’t make sense for both the UFC and McGregor. In fact, the UFC is losing buckets of money right now with no gate income coming in, so we should actually be bowing to Dana and the UFC for even putting together cards right now considering the world is in a global pandemic. With all that being said, let me play armchair matchmaker and suggest 5 potential fights for McGregor that we would all love to see.
#3 – McGregor vs Diaz 3
I know, I just got done ranting about the UFC not making any money off of the gate due to no physical crowds. This fight being booked right now is a big no. Lets be honest though, this fight is a super fight that we all want to see again. The first fight ended with Diaz submitting Conor, the second ended in a close decision. It’s only right that the UFC makes this fight happen ASAP. Diaz vs McGregor 1 and 2 are both in the top 3 biggest PPV buys for the UFC. Any fight Diaz or McGregor are in is sure to do big numbers. Putting the two together again is something we would all like to see sooner rather than later.
#2 – McGregor vs Masvidal
Fresh off of a loss from Kamaru Usman, Jorge Masvidal wants his rematch with the champ. The championship fight was so lopsided that I think Masvidal needs another big fight before setting up the rematch. McGregor is the perfect fight to set up a potential rematch for Masvidal against Usman. McGregor hasn’t fought in the Welterweight division yet, and this potential fight has super fight written all over it. I do see the UFC eventually making this fight happen though. Plus, McGregor has teased a fight at 170 for years. It would for sure help catapult McGregor up to the top 3 in the division with a win over Jorge. I get why MMA fans would shoot this down though. It would almost instantly allow McGregor to just jump in the rankings. It would also almost guarentee a title shot in a new division for him. Lets be honest though, McGregor gets what he wants most of the time. This is another match up that would do huge PPV numbers but I don’t expect it to happen during a pandemic.
#1 – McGregor vs Winner Of Dustin Poirier vs Tony Ferguson
The UFC hasn’t even announced that Poirier vs Ferguson, but this is the #1 next match up for McGregor. After stopping Cowboy Cerrone in 40 seconds at UFC 246, Conor proved once again that he is worth every penny the UFC pays him. Sure, Cerrone is now on a four fight losing streak and isn’t as durable as he used to be, but McGregor finishing Cowboy in such a dominant fashion was a spectacle to see and increased his star power tenfold. It also proved that ring rust is no issue for McGregor considering the layoff he had before taking the fight against Cerrone. Both Poirier and Ferguson deserve a fight with McGregor. Poirier was finished by the Irish superstar at UFC 146 in the fourth round. If I was a betting man I’d say Poirier wants that loss back more than anything. Poirier has made massive improvements since his loss to Conor six years ago. I think the fight would end differently compared to how it ended in 2014. Ferguson on the other hand has had a history of trash talk against Conor. After suffering a brutal loss to Gaethje at UFC 249 it would be the perfect match up after his potential win against Poirier to earn a shot against McGregor. There are a lot of moving pieces that would need to happen to set up a McGregor vs Ferguson fight though. The match up would be another all out brawl that MMA fans would love to see. A win over either Poirier or Ferguson would shoot McGregor back up to title contention. It would set up McGregor vs Gaethje or McGregor vs Khabib depending on how that championship fight ends in October. Either way, putting any of the five (McGregor, Poirier, Ferguson, Gaethje, and Khabib) together creates dream match ups that we would all enjoy.
