Conor McGregor is a man with options. That much became clear listening to him talk at a special ‘Evening With Conor McGregor’ event in Glasgow, Scotland on Friday night. The UFC lightweight champion went through a proverbial Rolodex of potential opponents from Nate Diaz to Khabib Nurmagomedov to Georges St-Pierre to any boxer foolish enough to cross over and fight him in the Octagon.
Then there’s the winner of the interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee at UFC 216 on October 7th. McGregor has been getting a lot of flack for winning titles in the UFC but never defending them. In November it will be a year since he took the 155 pound belt, and Conor admits it’s finally time to ‘legitimize’ it.
“Look, I’ve got the UFC title to defend and that means something to me. I will defend that world title,” McGregor said (quotes via MMA Fighting). “Nate is there. He’s trying to come in here and make all of these demands. If he starts pricing himself out of an event, I probably will defend against the person who wins this interim belt, or someone along that line to legitimize it again.”
“I’ve already gone from the highest of the high in terms of a money fight. Now the question I always get is about defending the belt and legitimizing the sport and the rankings. Maybe now it would be a good time for me to go and do that and shut that side up.”
An audience with Conor McGregor in Glasgow. THIS is how you open a show! pic.twitter.com/yHEjM43WPP
— Fight Disciples (@FightDisciples) September 29, 2017
While McGregor and his team have been talking a lot about a third fight with Nate Diaz, there’s a very good chance Nate won’t accept it without getting paid more than $10 million, something the UFC isn’t likely to accept. This is good news for Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee … and the UFC’s short term interests. They now have a meatier hook to hang next weekend’s UFC 216 upon with Conor McGregor’s interest in fighting the winner.
“The more I spend time away from it, I think I’ve already done all of the money fights,” Conor said. “Now, to legitimize a title and to bring it back, I could potentially bring it back. That’s a little bit exciting for me. I’ll see how this whole title picture plays out and we’ll go from there.”
McGregor’s move from chasing the flashiest fights available to defending his belt may not result in more record breaking pay-per-view numbers, but it would do more than just legitimize his belts. It could legitimize Conor McGregor in a way that no one, not even his most ardent haters, could deny years after he hangs up his gloves.
