For the first time in his professional career, Conor McGregor’s going to defend a belt.
Conor McGregor won’t be taking a fight at welterweight next, he won’t be fighting Georges St-Pierre and he won’t be boxing inside a ring. According to UFC president Dana White, the UFC lightweight champion is going to defend his title.
There were concerns that Nate Diaz might get the first crack at McGregor’s title in order to settle the series that’s tied at one win apiece. However, White explained at the UFC 216 post-fight press conference that completing the Diaz trilogy was never on their radar.
“Nobody has talked about Diaz. Diaz has never been talked about. That’s internet bullshit.”
He sent a clear message to Conor McGregor #UFC216 https://t.co/6LphHf0GrE
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 8, 2017
Instead, it looks like McGregor will be competing in a title unification bout against newly-crowned king Tony Ferguson, who earned the strap by submitting Kevin Lee in Sunday morning’s main event.
“Tony’s the interim champion. Conor ‘s the champion. It’s the fight that makes sense. It’s the fight that has to happen. Doesn’t make sense. It’s the fight that has to happen.”
White added that McGregor is eyeing up a return to the Octagon before the year’s end. So this fight could be happening sooner than expected.
“We didn’t talk about it, but we talked about it kinda. He wants to fight again this year. He does want to fight again this year. He went and partied in Ibiza for a while and went home for a while. You’ve got to let him blow off some steam and then we’ll figure it out.”
‘El Cucuy’ has won 10-straight fights in the most-populated division in the UFC, a record in the promotion’s 155 lb division. As White sees it, the fight couldn’t possibly disappoint.
