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Conor McGregor has stated that he intends to fight three times in 2020, starting with his much-anticipated return against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 on Jan. 18, 2020. Should he win there, he is looking for a Lightweight title fight, preferably against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
But another fight that is on McGregor’s radar is a Welterweight matchup against Jorge Masvidal. And despite UFC president Dana White repeatedly saying he isn’t interested in the fight, Conor isn’t budging.
“Conor has this idea, too, that if things don’t go his way and he [doesn’t] get the fight [with Khabib], he’ll have had a 170 fight in his pocket again and [is] considering a [Jorge] Masvidal fight,” White said in an interview with ESPN as transcribed by MMA Fighting. “I think everybody knows what I think about it. I think it’s a bad idea.”
“Conor gets pissed off when I say it’s a bad idea, and he’s like, ‘You think I can’t beat Masvidal?’ I’m not saying you can’t beat Masvidal. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day, but why? Why go after that fight when you could possibly just wait?”
But Conor wants the fight only if Jorge puts up his “BMF” title he won after defeating Nate Diaz at UFC 244 last month. The problem? Jorge said he’s never put the title up for anyone, and White has gone on record that the “BMF” title fight was only a one-time deal.
“Conor wants that belt from Masvidal,” White said. “I did it as a one off and like I said, it was fun. It was awesome. We’ll see what happens.”
Of course, as we’ve seen in the past, Conor is very persuasive and when you’re the biggest MMA star in the world, things tend to fall in your favor more often than not. Still, those plans could all come crumbling down if “Cowboy” shocks “Notorious” in Las Vegas, Nevada in a few short weeks.