It seems that everyone has an opinion about whom UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor should be fighting next. Will it be interim titleholder Tony Ferguson, who won the title over Kevin Lee this past Saturday night at UFC 216, or will it be Nate Diaz, who has already fought McGregor twice?
It’s well known by now that after his win over Lee at UFC 216, Ferguson took the time to call for a title-unification bout with McGregor, who has not been seen in the Octagon since last November at UFC 205 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title.
Following the event, UFC President Dana White went on record by stating to the media reporters at the post-fight press conference that McGregor vs. Ferguson is “the fight that has to happen.” However, that could easily change due to the fact that it involves McGregor.
UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping took to his Believe You Me podcast and gave his take on what the UFC should do from here. He suggested that White was pushing the Ferguson fight as a way to hardball Diaz into demanding less money for a trilogy bout with McGregor.
“Here’s the thing, Diaz is saying he wants $20 million to fight Conor for the third time, which sounds insane,” said Bisping (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “It is insane but realistically, if that was boxing, for an event that size, a fight that big for the PPV numbers, I feel like the boxer would get that money or close to it. . .
“But 20 million, I think what he’s doing there is pricing himself out of the market, simple as that. That’s why Dana is pushing the Ferguson fight. Dana, by going out there at the press conference and saying publicly that Ferguson has to fight Conor, that takes the momentum away from Diaz, so that’s gonna soften his stance on the 20 million.”
Keep in mind that Diaz hasn’t fought since his pair of bouts with McGregor last year and appears to be in no hurry to get back inside the Octagon. Bisping thinks Diaz could be doing what he did before when he was renegotiating his deal with the UFC before accepting a rematch with McGregor last year. However, it may not work this time around due to the fact that Ferguson’s presence gives the UFC a similarly lucrative backup plan.
“Maybe [Diaz]’s just using that as a negotiation tactic but I think if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll say, ‘F**k it, I’m not fighting then,’ and unfortunately, there is another good fight there with Ferguson vs. McGregor. While it doesn’t have the history of the Diaz-McGregor fight, that’s still a good fight and a lot of people are gonna pay to see that, and that is a good backup plan for the UFC, and it is the legitimate fight. Especially in the era where people are now talking s**t about all these interim titles, it looks like a good PR move for the UFC as well.”
“For sure [Ferguson is a tougher fight than Diaz]. The problem is for Tony Ferguson is that he does get hit. We saw that against Kevin Lee, he had his chin up in the air a few times and Kevin Lee exposed that. Conor, love him or hate him, the guy can fight, and he can strike, and he can box. We saw that against Mayweather and if Kevin Lee connected with [Ferguson], sure as hell Conor will connect as well.
“The problem that Conor has is the same problem that Kevin has, his gas tank isn’t the best. That’s not me being negative, it’s just that history has shown that. But Tony can weather the storm. Can he weather the storm in the way that Nate Diaz did? Can he take those shots? I guess we’ve got to see the fight to find out but it’s certainly an interesting matchup, and you can make a lot of cases for both guys to win.”
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