As the target on Conor McGregor’s back grows, so too does the number of frustrated contenders hoping to secure their own Red Panty Night.
When Conor McGregor annihilated Eddie Alvarez inside two rounds in the main event of the historic UFC 205 card, he only intensified the promotion’s greatest problem. And by ‘greatest problem’, we mean that it’s a genuinely great one to have.
In the Notorious they have a commodity with the Midas Touch. Everything he does inside and outside the Octagon seems to turn to PPV gold, made known by the fact that he headlined four of the five top PPVs in the history of the promotion. Every time he fires a can of energy drink towards Nate Diaz’s head, every time he turns up to a press conference fashionably late wearing a mink coat, hell, nearly every time he sends out a tweet he convinces more and more people to tune into his next fight.
The problem is with McGregor being the stand-out superstar in the sport, finding a suitable opponent that will be a big enough draw to top the last McGregor show can be difficult. After starching one of the greatest lightweight fighters of all time with ease, there doesn’t appear to be any 155 lb fighters vying for that title who could capture the attention of the casual fans quite like a Nate Diaz or a Georges St-Pierre type.
Not holding out much hope #UFC205 https://t.co/RwA1DcIkZ3
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 15, 2016
There are two fighters at the business end of the UFC’s lightweight division that have a strong case for getting the next title fight. Khabib Nurmagomedov might feel that his pristine 24-0 professional record coupled with his impressive submission over Michael Johnson at UFC 205 should be enough to earn him a crack at the belt.
By the same token, Tony Ferguson’s nine-fight win-streak in the promotion’s deepest weight class and his dominant victory over former champion Rafael dos Anjos would probably be enough to make him the number-one contender… under normal circumstances.
However, as everyone knows by now the whole concept of normality goes out the window once McGregor enters the discussion. Bellator poster boy Chael Sonnen broke down why he doesn’t expect either contender to get matched up against McGregor next on his podcast Beyond the Fight.
“Neither one of you are getting the fight. I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but you can take it from me right now. Neither one of you are going to be fighting Conor next.”
The American Gangster’s solution to this issue is simple. When there are two guys who feel they are the number one-contender, the obvious way to settle the debate is to put on a title eliminator bout.
“You’re going to be fighting each other next. Khabib and Ferguson are going to be fighting each other and it’s a timeline issue. First off, if you’re the company who do you choose? One guy’s on an eight-fight (sic) win-streak in Ferguson. In Khabib you’ve got a guy who’s 23-0 (sic). The best record in all of the UFC.”
From Russia sans love #UFC205 https://t.co/BTupRKicVY
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 15, 2016
Following McGregor’s big announcement at the post-fight press conference that his girlfriend is expecting a baby, Sonnen doesn’t expect the Notorious to be in any rush to return to the Octagon. Especially considering that he’s competed in four headline bouts in the space of 11 months.
“They’re going to have to fight each other. That’s it, because Conor’s not getting back in there in a timely fashion. He said that, he said, ‘look, I’ve got a baby on the way and I’m going to take a little bit of time.’ He has been active and he has been busy and he’s going to take a little bit of time.”
The only way he envisages McGregor being enticed back to the Octagon early is if the right fight is there for him, he just doesn’t consider either Ferguson or Nurmagomedov to fit that bill just yet.
“For the right fight he might feel some pressures from the company. He might have the company coming in and saying, ‘Conor we really need to do this and here’s the date.’ The sad reality, and I like these guys a lot and I hope they don’t take it as an insult, but this is reality, neither one of those guys is a big enough fight.”
“Khabib and Conor, does it sell? You bet it does. Ferguson and Conor, does it sell? You bet it does. Is it something we have to have and the company is going to be injured if it takes a little bit longer? No, it’s not.”
