So Who's Next For Conor McGregor?
Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return to the octagon this past weekend in a welterweight contest against fan favorite Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone - but you wouldn't know it by the looks of him afterwards - considering he didn't even get touched ONCE in the 40-seconds the fight lasted.
"The Notorious" made quick work of Cerrone, battering him badly with shoulder strikes - a perfectly flush head kick to the jaw, and some terrifying ground and pound for good measure - and then he left the cage completely unscathed, ready for the quick turnaround he envisioned at the start of the year. Now, the question on everyone's mind is: Who's next for Conor McGregor?
Could it be Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal?! UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov?! Maybe Justin Gaethje?! How about Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao?! Could it possibly even be Nate Diaz or Tony Ferguson?! Or that fool at the desk?!
Let's break it down...
For starters, I'm going to drop Mayweather/Pacquiao out of the running here immediately. I think it's entirely possible that McGregor rematches Floyd Mayweather in the future (Conor seems dead-set on this happening), and I even believe the Pacquiao match will probably happen in the next year or two, but I don't think he's prepared to make the jump outta the cage and back into the squared circle just yet. I'm praying I'm right, because I don't wanna see the Champ's arsenal limited whatsoever by a ruleset, but both boxers are thirsty for it, so who knows...
Next, I'll disqualify Tony Ferguson from the running, because let's be honest - there's just no way he makes it to fight night even if this one did miraculously get booked for him.
Oh, and I'm out on Conor McGregor/Nate Diaz III happening next as well, because Conor doesn't seem interested in rushing that right now (and it doesn't make much sense at the moment), but he did acknowledge the fact that they will complete the trilogy at some point...
That leaves us with Jorge Masvidal, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Justin Gaethje.
Obviously, a superfight between Conor McGregor and Jorge Masvidal would generate unprecedented hype, buzz, and revenue for the everyone involved, but it doesn't seem to be the fight Dana White wants to make at the moment. He'd rather see the rematch between Conor and Khabib, he says, which he predicts would be the biggest fight in company history. White's definitely correct in that assessment, but I would think the Masvidal fight would be even bigger right now, wouldn't you?
Plus, Kamaru Usman is currently injured and they could slap an interim title on that one! If Conor wants it!
Moving on from there for a second, though, to discuss the third name I mentioned among finalists - Justin Gaethje.
Justin Gaethje is a name you may not know if you're not a hardcore MMA fan, but he's another infamously chaotic and violent fighter ranked above McGregor in the Lightweight Division, and he's been calling out the Irishman since the second this fight with Cowboy was made official…
Some of those chirps make me question whether or not Justin Gaethje has any sorta grasp on reality whatsoever, considering he was asked if he wanted a shot at McGregor after his last win and he very adamantly said no…
…but I don't think this is on deck, especially considering the momentum that the winner of Khabib/Tony will have coming outta April and the superstar aura Masvidal currently has about him. Dana's gotta make sure he strikes while the iron is hot on one of those matchups, right?!
Soooo gun to my head - I think it'll be either Masvidal or Khabib - but I'd prrrrobably lean Khabib, even with the scheduling conflict Ramadan may present. If he puts up an impressive performance over Tony, which I expect him to, I could see McGregor pushing his quick turnaround plan to the side to wait for him.
We know that loss is still driving Conor crazy, we know how badly he wants the rematch, we know he's championship focused, and we know that the boss man is in for making that a reality. Really, the only obstacle is Khabib, who swears he'll never give McGregor another opportunity at his title (or just wants McGregor to go on a 10-fight win streak to earn his opportunity), but Dana could just threaten to strip him of the championship if he refuses or something. I dunno.
If Khabib stays stubborn, though, or if Conor doesn't wanna wait til after Ramadan to fight, we could see that BMF Championship back on the line, and I wouldn't hate that one bit either.
Oh, and I like Conor's odds against Masvidal, too. Doubt him all you want but I wanna be on record right now saying Conor wins that fight. Mark down the date and time and get back to me after it goes down.
Who do you think McGregor fights next?