UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently named eight possible next opponents – Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje, Kevin Lee, Paulie Malignaggi, Floyd Mayweather, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Georges St-Pierre. Diaz eliminated Lee shortening the list to seven, but a trilogy fight with Diaz appeared to be the best guess for next. However, momentum appears to be building towards Dana White’s stated choice, a unification bout with interim champ Tony Ferguson.
McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy appeared recently on the Talking Brawls podcast and suggested that momentum is building towards a unification fight with Ferguson
It’s exciting, said Roddy, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. When the word goes out like that and people start talking about it, it’s usually not far off of the deal being done. It could be a good one. Ferguson is the interim champion and rightfully so. He had a good performance against Lee and he’s had a lot of good performances.
I’d like to see it. People, including myself, were talking about the Diaz fight, but who knows that may come again. But if it’s Ferguson, that’s going to be a cracker as well. I still see the same outcome. I still see Conor — if they’re standing for any sort of extended period on the feet, it’ll be a quick one and that’s it.
He’s just not as tidy as Conor. You play the percentages, and Conor’s the cleaner, more refined striker. Ferguson is tough, he’s unorthodox, but in my opinion Conor’s just the superior striker, most definitely.
It’s an exciting fight isn’t it? He definitely brings problems and people are asking for it, that’s the most important thing. . . Obviously, money talks at the end of the day and whatever makes the most money is what both people would go for. But because people are asking for it and posting about it, that’s starting to gain the momentum that’s needed to get that big fight. It’s starting to build. It’ll be a good fight. It’ll definitely be a good fight.
Approx 57 min mark:
If McGregor does fight Ferguson, the next question is when. White wants UFC 219 on December 30, traditionally one of the biggest events of the year. There has also been talk of Saturday, March 17, 2018 – Saint Patrick’s Day.
If Conor wants to go at the end of the year, then we go straight into camp,” said Roddy. “He came back training last week, and got a couple of sessions in. He’s back in the gym after that whole whirlwind. I think it’d be great to let him get back training and enjoying training and take it from there but at the end of the day, whatever happens, happens. If we go into camp tomorrow, we go into camp tomorrow and we get it done.
