Esther Lin/MMA Fighting
Conor McGregor is no stranger to stealing the spotlight following big UFC events. Over the past year plus away from the Octagon, he’s repeatedly inserted himself into post-fight conversations by teasing fights against whoever was trending. And surprise surprise, he’s doing it again.
At least he actually has a fight coming up on January 18th against Donald Cerrone … and if we’re to believe his plans, two more fights in 2020. One of those fights will be against Khabib because there’s just too much money not to do it. The other? Based on Conor’s latest tweet, perhaps it’ll be a title fight against 170 pound champ Kamaru Usman.
145. 155. 170.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) December 15, 2019
’145. 155. 170,’ McGregor tweeted. The famous Irish sports star has already held the 145 and 155 pound belts. And he’s implied he intends on being a double champ again. We imagine maybe he saw something in the Usman vs. Covington fight that made him feel like he could take the 170 pound strap off Kamaru.
Of course, the fight Usman fought against Covington was contested completely on the feet because both fighters had too healthy of a respect for each others’ wrestling. Minus that, Usman’s fights tend to look more like his bout against Tyron Woodley, where he wiped the canvas with the former champ.
If McGregor thought he had a bad time against Khabib Nurmagomedov, imagine how he’d do against someone even bigger and stronger like Usman? McGregor may fancy himself a welterweight fighter because the Cerrone fight will be his third contest at 170, but none of these are against real welterweights. UFC president Dana White has made it clear what he thinks of his golden goose facing the guys cutting 25+ pounds to hit 170.
McGregor may just be crazy enough to try, though. He had the chutzpah to challenge Floyd Mayweather in boxing, after all. And he’s been training like a madman over the past several months, bulking up and putting on muscle. Smart as part of a plan to return to lightweight the bigger man. But welterweight? There are limits to how many weight classes even the greatest of fighters can move up before size overwhelms skill.
We’d watch him try, though, the absolute mad lad.