McGregor vs. Diaz III at Croke Park? Yes please!
Sure, it’s a pipe dream right now but it’s one that is not impossible. And SBG head coach John Kavanagh, like us all, is a dreamer.
The sequel to the UFC 196 main event is only two days old but already everyone is wondering when we’re going to see the realisation of the trilogy, given how entertaining UFC 202’s headliner was at the weekend.
Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz went to war at welterweight for a second time and the series is now tied at 1-1.
Both men seem keen on a rubber match, this time contested at their more comfortable 155 lbs, and Kavanagh foresees a scenario where the decider takes place in Dublin’s own Croke Park.
Asked what’s next for his star pupil during an interview on the MMA Hour, Kavanagh hastened to point out that McGregor will always do his own thing but that if Kavanagh gets his way then ‘The Notorious’ will claim lightweight gold and defend it on home soil against his fiercest rival.
“I think it would be nice for him [McGregor] to be the champion, get the belt at 155 lbs and defend it against Nate… maybe in Croke Park in Dublin,” Kavanagh said.
“I’d push for that. How cool would that be? We went to their enemy territory so let them come over to us this time.”
UFC president Dana White seems keen for McGregor to return to featherweight to defend his title in a rematch with interim champion Jose Aldo but the Irishman remains non-committal on that and Kavanagh believes that his fighter has accomplished all there is to accomplish at 145 lbs.
“I really don’t see the point [of returning to featherweight], with all due respect to the 145 lbs guys,” Kavanagh said. “Especially after that fight with Nate, what are they going to do to him?
“I just think anyone he faces at that weight class, it’s almost like he’s cheating with the amount of power he has. He can make the weight, don’t get me wrong on that. And he might do it just to spite me.
“With [George] Lockhart on board, the 145 lbs he made last December was the easiest one he’s ever done. So it’s definitely in him to do it but he’s just running through people at that weight class.
“There would have been a nice build-up. I had a little vision in my head of him and [Frankie] Edgar in New York in November but, unfortunately, those guys didn’t keep up their end of the bargain. They had to go out there and prove they deserved it and prove that they had improved and go out there and beat Aldo. They didn’t. The fight was even more one-sided than their first contest.”
If McGregor decides that he has fought his last fight at featherweight, then it’s almost certain that he will be stripped of his title but Kavanagh insists that he would prefer to see McGregor continue his career in the lightweight division.
“That’s just my big brother opinion,” he said. “I would like to see him at 155 lbs. I remember that [Ivan] Buchinger fight and he looked like a tank to me.
“I just think he was designed to be a lightweight.”
On the latest GAA Hour we look back at Mayo-Tipperary and chat to Andy Moran about his incredible, never-ending career. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes.
