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Dana White and Conor McGregor might not be on the same page just yet.
What’s next for Conor McGregor? It’s been a couple of weeks following his big win over Donald Cerrone, and if you ask the UFC President, he’s still pushing for a title shot against the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson next.
“Probably the winner of Khabib and Tony,” Dana White said about McGregor’s next bout on The Jim Rome Show (transcript via MMA Fighting).
“He looked unbelievable in this fight,” White said. “And for people that are saying Cowboy is shot, Cowboy is this—Cowboy is one of the best and one of the baddest to ever do it and he showed up to win that night and Conor McGregor ran through him like a freight train.
“McGregor looks better than he’s ever looked. His head’s in the right place.”
While White seems to still want that title bout next, McGregor’s camp is keeping their options open. According to his manager Audie Attar, it’s “brilliant” that the Irishman didn’t name an opponent on his post-fight interview, as they have a “dozen” other options available.
“It wasn’t a premeditated or planned thing where he decided not to necessarily name anybody’s name but there are a dozen or so options out for him that make sense,” McGregor’s manager told MMA Fighting.
“Depending on which one makes the most sense depending on a number of different motivations, that’s who he’s going to go with,” he said, also noting that McGregor is already back in the gym training.
“So we’ve already started. He’s staying ready, that’s for sure. So we’ll see. These are talks that are going to be ongoing. I’d dare to say they’ve already started between us.”
McGregor does have intriguing and lucrative options, but a couple of names might be crossed off the list, as Jorge Masvidal seems to be on track for a welterweight title bout with Kamaru Usman next.
The former two-division champion has previously discussed the possibly stepping in for the lightweight belt if the Khabib-Ferguson fight gets scrapped for the 5th time. He also spoke about possible bouts with Justin Gaethje at welterweight and a trilogy with Nate Diaz.
As his manager alluded to, a lot of this could boil down to timing, and if McGregor indeed plans to be as active as he promises in 2020.