McGregor coach calls for trilogy fight with Diaz

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor beat lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez on Saturday night at UFC 205, taking his title. Notorious said post-fight that top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov was a “pull-out merchant” in reference to his injuries, and sounded more inclined to challenge welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

Nurmagomedov is a perfect 24-0 record after beating Michael Johnson nearly through the floor at UFC 205, before finishing him with an armlock. UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson too can make a title shot case, with his eight-fight win streak in the UFC. In the last four fights, El Cucuy won two Fight of the Night awards in a row, and three ‘of the Night’ performance bonuses. He won both his last two fights via Darse choke.

However, during a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh named not Ferguson, Nurmagomedov, nor Woodley as the fighter he wants the Notorious to fight next. Instead, he would like to see a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz.

“Now, I’m going to give you my full opinion,” he began, as transcribed by Milan Ordoñez for BE. “I think the second best 145er is Max Holloway, in my opinion. And I think the second best 155er is Nate Diaz. That’s my opinion.”

“I think Nate would beat either Tony or Khabib. I think he really turned a corner with the Michael Johnson fight. I think we saw a new version of him. I think he looked fantastic in both Conor’s fights.”

“Now, I understand Khabib is the number one contender and it’s probably gonna be him if that’s how the company works but for me, interest wise, the Nate fight would interest me greater because of that. If it’s Tony, if it’s Khabib, great. They are two fantastic fighters.”

If you listen quietly you can hear the sound of Khabib Nurmagomedov losing his mind.