With Conor McGregor’s UFC return still up in the air, there has been much discussion as to who the Irishman will fight later this year.
While McGregor would love the opportunity to rematch current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who submitted “Notorious” back at UFC 229 in the biggest fight in promotion history, it’s more likely that the Irishman faces someone else in his return. In addition to a rumored bout with veteran Donald Cerrone later this summer, McGregor has started to add even more names to the list.
The Irishman recently did a Q&A in Chicago (shown above courtesy of BJPenn.com) to promote his Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey in which he discussed running things back with the likes of Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway.
“On the other side, if you beat a man convincingly, a first-round KO, a dominating performance, there’s not really a need for a rematch,” McGregor stated. “But, if that individual rises up the ranks, if he goes back, checks himself, humbles himself, stays focused, stays positive, and rises up exactly like Dustin Poirier has done, and exactly like Max Holloway has done, well then there is rematches deserved.”
Remember, McGregor holds victories over both stars, as he defeated “Blessed” via decision back in 2013 and then “Diamond” in 2014 via first-round TKO. Holloway is currently scheduled to put his featherweight title reign on hold to move up to lightweight and challenge Poirier for the interim title next month at UFC 236.
Another name to come out of McGregor’s mouth was none other than former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who McGregor starched in just 13 seconds back at UFC 194. McGregor believes that Aldo’s recent string of success, which includes knockout victories over contenders Jeremy Stephens and Renato Moicano, puts him back in line to score his second Red Panty Night.
Heck, McGregor was even willing to fight Aldo on Brazilian soil this May before UFC tried to push him into a co-main event slot.
“Even Aldo now currently, he had a great win, his last two wins were great wins,” He said. “He had a little bit of a slip, but he’s had two great wins and now he’s fighting in his hometown of Rio De Janeiro. I actually was thinking I might slide in and face him, but all these politics and co-main event conversation kind of halted that as well. If he wins, I believe he’s up in line for a rematch also. Although it was a 12-second knockout, I still think if you rise up again, you deserve a rematch. So, this is where we are at.”
At the end of the day, any of these matchups makes sense. McGregor has even talked about the possibility of doing a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. inside of the boxing ring, but fight fans would much rather see “Notorious” run it back with the likes of Holloway, Poirier, and Aldo.
If things play out the way we think they might, McGregor will have his chance to fight the winner of Holloway vs. Poirier this July and try to score a lucrative rematch with Khabib at the end of the year.