White: McGregor vs. Ferguson ‘has to happen’
Dana White: “Tony’s the interim champion, Conor’s the champion, that’s the fight that makes sense. It’s the fight that has to happen.”
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently listed eight fighters he could conceivably fight next – winner of Tony Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee, Nate Diaz, Paulie Malignaggi, Floyd Mayweather, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, and Georges St-Pierre. The list shortened to seven when Ferguson beat Lee in exciting fashion at UFC 216 on Saturday night.
There is a widespread belief that the trilogy fight with Nate Diaz is next, but at the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White disagreed.
Nobody’s talked about Diaz,” said White, as transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting. “Diaz has never been talked about. That’s internet bulls***, White said. Tony’s the interim champion, Conor’s the champion, that’s the fight that makes sense. It’s the fight that has to happen, it doesn’t ‘make sense,’ it’s the fight that has to happen.
However, White said the conversation with McGregor on what’s next hasn’t really happened yet.
Not yet,” he said. “We didn’t specifically talk about it, but yeah we talked about it kinda. He wants to fight again this year. He does want to fight again this year so he went and partied in Ibiza for a while, went back home for awhile, you gotta let him blow off some steam and then figure it out.
Tony’s a busy guy. He keeps coming forward, he keeps throwing all kinds of different things at ya. And Conor’s awesome. There’s no way that’s not a great fight. Impossible.