Some fighters, like Frankie Edgar, don’t believe Conor McGregor will ever defend his featherweight title after earning it with his first-round destruction of Jose Aldo back at UFC 194.
That’s because “Notorious” is too busy trying to test his skills at welterweight, which ultimately didn’t work out his way during his fight in the 170-pound division against Nate Diaz at UFC 196 (see it again here).
So will Conor ever go back down to 145 pounds? According to one of his training partners, Gunnar Nelson, the Irishman could very well defend his title in the coming months, but going through the weight cut is just a “nasty” process for the biggest star on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster.
That’s why “Gunni” stated on The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting) he’d love to see his friend fight at lightweight.
“It’s really just up to him, whatever he wants to do. I think that 145 is…I know he can go back down and defend his title, no problem. But I just think he doesn’t want to do that cut again. It’s a nasty one, and I agree with him. I understand that. So I think maybe I would like to see him going to the 155 before going all the way up to the welterweight.”
Of course, Conor was all set to vie for the 155-pound title against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196 before an injury forced “RDA” out of the title fight. As a result, McGregor opted to stay on the pay-per-view (PPV) card to face Diaz at 170 pounds.
While admirable, the move proved costly.
And he won’t get a chance to redeem himself — at least not at UFC 200 — as company president Dana White pulled McGregor from the monumental event on July 9, 2016, for his unwillingness to partake in the kickoff press conference.
While “Notorious” is adamant nothing else matters other than his do-over against Diaz, UFC officials could force him to defend his 145-pound strap in a title unification match against the winner of the upcoming interim title fight between the aforementioned Aldo and Edgar, which is slated for UFC 200 (details).
Unless, of course, Conor is done making the “nasty” drop down to featherweight.