Conor McGregor: 7 Potential Fights for His UFC Return
Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the UFC—perhaps even more so now that Ronda Rousey has suffered a much-publicized fall from grace. The Irishman is, along with Rousey, the only true guarantee for the UFC in the pay-per-view space and the most regular big-money name in combat sports as well, with Floyd Mayweather out of the game.
Thus it stands to reason that people are already excited about McGregor’s comeback, even if it could be down the line as much as 10 months. He’s said he’s waiting for the birth of his first child before he gets back in the cage, but he also said that he might try to squeeze something in before that child comes, so anything is possible at this point.
Either way, the only thing that talks more than McGregor himself is cash. If UFC ownership either flies to Dublin or picks up the phone and starts talking numbers and big fights for the lightweight champion, it’s even more likely that he might be talked back the cage sooner rather than later.
In consideration of that fact—and also of the fact that McGregor has been active in three weight classes over the past 13 months—what follows is a list of prospective opponents for the most polarizing man in the game to mull over as he returns to the gym and prepares for his next entry into the Octagon.
Max Holloway
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Max Holloway already sits as a victim of McGregor’s meteoric rise, losing to the SBG product on a hot summer night in Boston all the way back in 2013. The two were prospects that night, Holloway perhaps a little more raw and McGregor not yet acquainted with his own UFC legacy, and the fight ended in a decision.
Remarkably, Holloway is still the only man other than Nate Diaz to make it to the judge’s scorecards against McGregor, and he’s been more than open to having a chance to avenge the loss in recent times. Incidentally, McGregor tore his ACL in the first fight against Holloway and missed a year immediately afterward as he recovered, and it’s hard not to wonder if that was a factor in the outcome as well.
Holloway has grown into a ruthless character in his own right, dicing through an increasingly elite collection of featherweights on his way to an interim title. His striking is quite crisp, and he has a fairly exciting ground game as well, so a second meeting with McGregor would surely entertain.
A bout between the two would require the returning McGregor to drop to featherweight once again; however, it’s pretty apparent that McGregor still fancies himself the real champion of that weight class and isn’t particularly interested in the UFC promoting things to the contrary.
As a man who generally does what he wants and makes few apologies about it, don’t rule out the possibility that McGregor elects to push the UFC into giving him a chance at featherweight against the Hawaiian, as much to prove that he’s in charge as to prove he can beat Holloway again.
Jose Aldo
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The man now holding the featherweight title, Jose Aldo, is McGregor’s greatest nemesis. Considering that fact, it’s pretty remarkable that they’ve only ever spent 13 seconds opposing one another in an actual fight.
Aldo lost his belt to McGregor at UFC 194 but spent 2016 watching McGregor not defending it while taking wild fights against Nate Diaz and pursuing a lightweight title fight against Eddie Alvarez. The UFC grew tired of McGregor dabbling everywhere but featherweight (and perhaps of Aldo’s persistent complaints in the media) and stripped him soon after he became a dual champion by beating Alvarez. The indirect result was to put the title back on Aldo, who’d become interim champion at UFC 200.
All of this empowers Aldo to pursue McGregor once again, be it at featherweight or lightweight. He’s mentioned both as possibilities as he looks to correct the most humiliating experience of his career against the man he hates more than any he’s come across.
For his part, McGregor seems lukewarm on rematching Aldo, regardless of the weight class. He appears content to enjoy his violent, convincing win over the Brazilian and turn his attention to other challengers while Aldo desperately chases him and tries to goad him into one more meeting.
As of now, this one doesn’t seem wildly likely as a return engagement for McGregor when he ends his hiatus. There are other men in line ahead of Aldo if he were to move to lightweight, and it seems like there would be too much to work out for McGregor to go back to featherweight for a bout that he’s pretty publicly derided for the past several months.
Still, it’s a compelling matchup given the history the two men share and the stylistic clash they’d provide.
Tony Ferguson
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Speaking of compelling style matchups, would there be anything better at lightweight than watching McGregor defend his gold against Tony Ferguson sometime later this year?
Ferguson is an explosive wild man with long, rangy, flashy striking and a willingness to pursue finishes with reckless abandon. He’s a strong wrestler and an even better submission grappler thanks to his unorthodox frame for the weight class, but it’s his ability to chain things together in a truly “mixed” manner that sends opponents for a loop. More than anyone in the business, he’s apt to go from a hand combination to kicks to knees to diving for a submission from standing, all in one fluid motion.
To the viewer, oftentimes, it’s total craziness.
It would be a stout test for McGregor, a man with so many tools in his proverbial toolbox who also has a similar size advantage that offered some trouble in the two Nate Diaz fights. Ferguson is also quite willing to get out in the public eye and make a little noise, so it wouldn’t take long before he and McGregor were sniping at one another and watching the cash roll in on fight night.
Of all the prospective bouts on the list, this one might be the freshest as the UFC decides what to do for McGregor’s return. As of now, it looks like Ferguson may be lining up for an interim lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov late in winter, so if he succeeds, then he’ll force everybody’s hand and earn himself the biggest fight of his life in the not-too-distant future.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
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The other shark circling the UFC’s top draw in the 155-pound waters is Nurmagomedov, an increasingly vocal detractor of McGregor, other opponents and even the UFC itself. The Russian sambo specialist has gotten pretty good with his jibes on social media and has even taken to talking trash in the cage once Joe Rogan puts a microphone in front of him, so he’s gotten more attention than ever in recent months.
Beyond his grandstanding and salesmanship, Nurmagomedov has never lost in his MMA career and appears to be one of the more unique foils for McGregor. While even the Irishman's heartiest detractors would have to admit the lightweight champion has answered all wrestling-related questions in his career to this point, Nurmagomedov is a different animal entirely. He doesn’t just take people down and beat them up; he destroys them. It’s so persistently violent that it would be hard to watch if it wasn’t so artistically perfect.
Then again, on the feet, Nurmagomedov is still very much a work in progress. He was getting torched by Michael Johnson in the stand-up game at UFC 205 before he took the fight to the ground and mauled his way to another convincing win. If he can’t get his hands on McGregor relatively early and can’t get out of the way of the straight left hand that will surely be coming, it’ll be a short night for him.
As noted, he may have Tony Ferguson on his plate next, but a meeting with McGregor sometime down the line would be highly intriguing.
Nate Diaz
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It may not be the most sensible fight out there on merit, but if you don’t want to see a third fight between McGregor and Diaz, then you need to check your pulse.
Their UFC 196 meeting was as much fun as any short-notice bout in history, with both men winging combinations and talking trash until one finally fell. Their UFC 202 rematch was a scintillating brawl that pushed both men to the brink on numerous occasions and ended in the narrowest of decisions. Both bouts were full-blown cultural phenomena, landing squarely among the hottest-selling UFC events ever, per Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting, and making both men into even bigger stars than they already were.
What about that isn’t to like? What about that isn’t something you’d want to see again?
The two are a perfect style balance, with Diaz being tireless and durable and McGregor prowling for a knockout that he may never secure against Stockton, California's newest hero. It’s volume versus power in a clash of two men who are technical equals but who go about imposing themselves very differently when the cage door shuts.
It’s truly fascinating theater.
Despite some typically bizarre assertions from Dana White about Diaz’s size and some outrageous claims from Diaz about what it would cost just for him to answer the phone these days, completing this trilogy seems like a sure thing. There would be no better way for McGregor to return than by defending his belt against Diaz and closing this chapter of his career for good.
The Welterweight Champion
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McGregor has done an excellent job at making himself relevant in three weight classes over the past year or so, and the final step in his plan to conquer MMA entirely may be to talk his way into the title picture at 170 pounds. He’s already set up some beef with Tyron Woodley, who has said his name on more than one occasion, and cashing in on that in a return bout would be a great move.
The only hiccup in that plan is a UFC 209 date between Woodley and Stephen Thompson, a man with whom the welterweight champion shared a draw at UFC 205. They’ll look to settle the score with some finality in March, meaning Thompson could hold the gold by the time McGregor returns.
Either way, both of those fights offer intrigue in different ways. The bad blood with Woodley is one thing, but the bigger, stronger wrestle-boxer is a problem we have yet to see McGregor solve. His fights at 170 pounds were against Nate Diaz, a natural lightweight with a limited wrestling pedigree, so it would be interesting to see how he’d stack up with the elite of the division given the size and style concerns there.
Alternatively, if it’s Thompson holding the title, an entertaining bout with McGregor would be a certainty. Thompson’s karate attack against the fluid striking of McGregor would be a sight to behold, particularly given the long, rangy approach that Thompson often undertakes when breaking his opponents down. It’s the type of attack that gave McGregor problems against Diaz, and with the trademark diversity of Thompson’s strikes, it’s easy to see how the fighting pride of Dublin could run into trouble.
Nick Diaz
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Nick Diaz has been on the shelf for just about two years now since he fought Anderson Silva at UFC 183 in a middleweight showcase. He’s also the other Diaz in this particular feud, given that his younger brother has been battling McGregor for the past year and seems apt to do it again before long.
Still: Wouldn’t this just be the best?
Both McGregor and Nick Diaz have massive fan followings and have crossed paths (warning: NSFW language) on occasion over the course of McGregor’s fights with Nate. Both men have highly entertaining approaches to combat, from the way they sell fights to their mutual distaste for authority to their actions once the fight starts.
Nick is a similar challenge to Nate, a man with a game built on durability, stamina, good boxing and great jiu-jitsu, but he’s a proper welterweight who might be even tougher on McGregor given the size advantage at play. Not unlike a potential welterweight title shot, part of the appeal of seeing McGregor against bigger opponents is seeing exactly how he’d look to solve the problems they pose—provided he could solve them at all, which is far from a given.
Diaz appears content to sit on the sidelines until a bout that truly interests him is brought to the table, as he’s no longer under any suspension, and recent reports suggest he turned down a fight with Robbie Lawler not that long ago. Perhaps McGregor, with his big name and the associated big purse, might get Nick off the couch and back into the game.
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