Conor McGregor returned to the spotlight after a month spent vacationing in Ibiza, appearing in front of thousands of fans in Scotland for another “Evening With Conor McGregor” event. He answered questions for more than an hour, including his thoughts on how a rematch with Floyd Mayweather might go. But his realistic plans for the future garnered the most attention. Who is McGregor going to fight next, and when?
Via Pete Carroll of MMA Fighting:
“An option: there’s an interim belt on the line right now,” McGregor said referring to the interim lightweight title fight Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee at UFC 216. “That’s an option. Of course the Nate Diaz trilogy fight is there. Maybe one of these boxing guys. Maybe Malignaggi would come over and do an MMA bout. Or Floyd, maybe I could entice Floyd back. We could either do a rematch in boxing, or like he said originally, we’ll do an MMA fight next.”
“They are the options that are on the table for me right now.”
As for the Ferguson vs. Lee fight taking place on October 7th, they’ll need to show him something special if they want to entice him.
“I’m happy they’re fighting,” McGregor continued. “This is what I wanted because they’re all bums at the end of the day make no mistake about that. I’m just happy they’re fighting. I just want to see them compete. Too many of them pull out right at the wire and we’re still not at this fight yet, so I’m just going to pray that this one goes ahead.”
“It’s got to excite me, let me see what these two fools do this weekend. We’ll see what the energy is like … I just want to see them fight. They’re talking about me fighting? I’m the one going into other peoples’ domains and fighting. They’re sitting on Twitter typing away and complaining. I’m in there trying to do it.”
Conor McGregor Live! This Friday I'm hosting an 'Evening with Conor McGregor' in Glasgow. What would u want 2 ask The Notorious? Comment 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/qyDixPLRsU
— Caroline Pearce (@CarolinePearce) September 25, 2017
McGregor is clearly unimpressed with the amount of fighting being done at the top of the lightweight division. Tony Ferguson was originally supposed to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov back in March, but the fight was cancelled at the last second after Khabib fell ill from cutting weight. Since then, he’s been on the sidelines, and it took Ferguson seven months to be re-booked. If they think they can win the “McGregor Sweepstakes” on the sidelines, they’re apparently wrong.
“Obviously, Khabib in Russia would be a great one,” Conor said. “It would be a crazy one. We’ll see what happens. I’ll need to see him make weight though. There’s no way I’m going over there and he’s not making weight. I need assurance.”
Last but not least, McGregor expressed interest in fighting Georges St-Pierre…if the Canadian superstar wins when he goes up in weight to challenge middleweight champion Michael Bisping in November.
“It’s another money fight, even though he’s been retired,” McGregor said. “I don’t know, I think he’s going to get his ass whooped by Bisping. To be honest I think it’s a mistake for him to step in at that weight after so long out.”
It sounds like Conor McGregor has all the options in the world, and he just has to decide what he’d fancy most. A return could come sooner rather than later, too. McGregor revealed he’d consider fighting on the UFC’s December 30th card if they gave him a pass on promotion and all he had to do was weigh in and fight. That’s not completely outside of the realm of possibility. Dana White infamously let Ronda Rousey skip all media duties leading up to her failed comeback fight, too.
If it gets McGregor back in the cage early to finally defend a title, we’re all for it.
