10 Biggest Fights For Conor McGregor After UFC 205

Conor McGregor has now solidified himself in UFC history as the first fighter in the promotion’s history to hold two titles in different weight classes simultaneously when the featherweight champion captured the 155-pound title from Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 last Saturday (November 12, 2016) with a scintillating second-round knockout.

Now McGregor must take on the tall task of defending two titles in different weight classes, with perennial contenders already lined up for ‘The Notorious’ to take on next. With no shortage of contenders in the UFC’s featherweight, or talent-stacked lightweight divisions, the challenges in the two-weight world champion’s young career are only getting started.

With so many contenders to choose from, we have compiled a list of ten men who are next in line for the big money fight against McGregor in the near future. So without further ado fight fans, here are the top 10 fighters that Conor McGregor should step into the Octagon with next…….

10. Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone

One of the most game fighters the UFC has ever seen is former UFC lightweight title challenger Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, who will step in to save an injury riddled card on the drop of a dime.

Cerrone and McGregor have exchanged words back-and-forth at one another in multiple press conferences, especially the Go Big press event last year in which ‘Cowboy’ threatened to ‘knock the lucky charms’ out of the featherweight champ if he decided to move up to 155 pounds.

Cerrone possesses some of the most dynamic muay thai striking that the UFC has today, not to mention a ground game that is world-class and has been the downfall of many who have found their way onto the mat with the Jackson Wink product. ‘Cowboy’s’ rough style of play clashing with McGregor’s patient, accurate, and quick style of striking could make for quite the interesting match-up.

Not only could this fight take place at McGregor’s championship weight of 155 pounds, but both men could also decide to throw down in the UFC’s welterweight division of 170 pounds. Cerrone has been performing masterfully since making the jump up to welterweight, steadily rising as a threat to the 170-pound throne, while McGregor has competed in the division twice in his feud with Nate Diaz earlier this year.

If a match-up between the two fan favorites is the fight the UFC decides to go with next, it would certainly be an entertaining contest for mixed martial arts (MMA) fans to enjoy.

9. Robbie Lawler

After having captured a second UFC title with his victory over Alvarez, McGregor has been expressing a lot of interest lately on possibly jumping back up to welterweight to challenge for that title as well. This isn’t the first time ‘Notorious’ has shown interest in this, however, as he once pondered the idea when ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler reigned as champion at 170 pounds.

In the lead-up to his previously scheduled lightweight title bout with Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196 (before being replaced by Nate Diaz due to injury), McGregor stated that he thinks he could defeat ‘Ruthless’ by utilizing his superior speed:

“I like Robbie, I won’t say a bad word about Robbie. He fights with his heart. He’s been around the game so, so long. But if we fought, I would beat Robbie. I’m too fast for him. The size difference is not anything. I’ve stood beside him. I’ve seen him. I respect [Lawler] as a champion, as a man who drifted off, came back, stayed on it and rose up and became the welterweight champion. We’ll see how that goes. That is an appealing one for me, the welterweight [title]. All the belts. We’ll see.”

If McGregor truly is considering making the jump up to challenge for his third UFC title, what better way to earn the opportunity than to defeat the man who once reigned as one of the most feared welterweight title holders of all time? Lawler possesses some of the most vicious striking power the 170-pound class has seen in recent years, and has shown extraordinary heart to overcome adversity and bring the best out of  himself and his opponents.

Lawler would certainly pose some major threats to McGregor inside the Octagon, but McGregor’s accomplishments as of late have him on such a high that it most likely wouldn’t shock many fight fans if ‘Mystic Mac’ is able to emerge victorious.

8. Tyron Woodley

As we mentioned, McGregor has been exploring the possibility of taking on a third UFC title by way of the welterweight division, a weight class that is currently ran by the powerful Tyron Woodley.

McGregor and Woodley have had their share of issues as of late, as the two shared a rather interesting stare-down with one another during the official weigh-ins for UFC 205 this past weekend. This was followed by a Twitter war between the two champions, in which McGregor repeatedly called ‘The Chosen One’ a ‘bi*ch’.

Finally, during the un-official weigh-ins McGregor had a few choice words for Woodley backstage, as video footage captured the Irishman yelling obscenities at Woodley from across the room. After their respective bouts in Madison Square Garden, in which both men carried gold on their way out of MSG, Woodley stated that he was open to throwing down with ‘The Notorious One’ next.

Woodley would certainly be an extremely difficult stylistic match-up for the dual-weight champ, as his explosive wrestling ability and thunderous striking power could spell doom for the SBG product. On the other hand Woodley should be weary of McGregor’s left hand, which has been proved to be too much for even the best of fighters to be able to handle.

If McGregor does decide to go the welterweight route, he would attempt to be the first man in promotion history to hold three titles in different weight classes throughout his UFC tenure.

7. Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis Winner

Since winning the UFC featherweight title in December of last year, McGregor has yet to defend the 145-pound title that took him all but 13 seconds to secure in his main event meeting with Jose Aldo at UFC 194.

McGregor has yet to return to his championship weight class, as he has been busy competing at both the lightweight and welterweight classes instead. While McGregor claims to have ‘wiped out’ the featherweight division after downing Aldo, there are certainly a number of rising contenders to challenge the Irishman for the 145-pound crown.

Two such contenders come in the form of former lightweight champ Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis, and Hawaiian brawler Max Holloway. Pettis has been a long discussed match-up for McGregor for quite some time now, as many MMA fans have imagined seeing the two dynamic strikers take center Octagon against each other to bang it out in flashy fashion.

Holloway has been on a devastating win streak as of late, as he has won nine fights in a row since suffering his third UFC loss to McGregor via unanimous decision back in 2013. ‘Blessed’ has evolved tremendously since his original contest with ‘Mystic Mac’, and is confident he can get the job done the second time around in effort to secure his first UFC title.

Holloway and Pettis will meet each other for a featherweight clash at UFC 206 next month (December 10, 2016), with a shot at the 145-pound title possibly being on the line.

6. Jose Aldo

One of the most hated rivalries the UFC has ever seen was between Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo, as the two men traveled the world together for nearly a year to promote their clash for the featherweight title, time that McGregor used to get under the skin of ‘Scarface’.

McGregor and Aldo were originally set to clash in the main event of UFC 189, being ‘Notorious” first shot at a UFC title in his short career with the promotion. Unfortunately for McGregor, however, Aldo would be forced to pull out of the contest citing an injury sustained in training camp, opening up the door for Chad ‘Money’ Mendes to step in and challenge McGregor with an interim title being placed on the line.

Mendes would eventually fall to McGregor’s left hand in the second round of the contest, where a unification bout between McGregor and Aldo for the two featherweight titles would be put into place for UFC 194. When the two finally squared off it took McGregor only 13 seconds to land his powerful left had shot on Aldo’s chin, who took advantage of the overly emotional Brazilian, taking away his decade long undefeated streak and featherweight crown with one deadly swing.

Since then Aldo has returned to the Octagon to capture an interim featherweight title of his own, campaigning hard for a shot at redemption against the brash Irishman. His efforts, however, have proven unsuccessful as of late, but with McGregor finally accomplishing his longtime goal of becoming a dual-weight UFC champion perhaps the door has opened for a featherweight title defense against Aldo next.

5. Khabib Nurmagomedov

McGregor now holds the crown to not only the featherweight division, but the talent-stacked lightweight division as well; a division that has no shortage of elite challengers waiting in the wings for their shot at UFC gold.

One such challenger is the undefeated imposing Russian grappler Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov has compiled an undefeated record of 24-0 throughout his MMA career, with his most recent victory coming via round three submission when ‘The Eagle’ forced Michael Johnson to tap to his Kimura this past weekend.

Nurmagomedov has battled a string of injuries that have kept him out of action for nearly two years, after which Nurmagomedov returned to earn two dominant finish wins over his opponents. Nurmagomedov has been calling for a shot at the lightweight title for some time now, and with his recent win over Johnson he might just get the nod.

One interesting story to a possible McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov contest is the fact that security had to keep ‘Notorious’ and ‘The Eagle’ apart at UFC 205 weigh-ins, as the two heatedly exchanged words at one another.

McGregor certainly has the striking ability to trouble the Russian, as we saw Johnson rock Nurmagomedov in the first round of their contest this past weekend, but ‘The Eagle’ would ride to victory utilizing his elite grappling ability. Nurmagomedov would certainly pose serious issues for McGregor with his dominant ground game that is leaps and bounds ahead of nearly everyone on the UFC roster.

If McGregor does decide to make his first title defense against Nurmagomedov, it would be an extraordinarily difficult task to say the least.

4. Tony Ferguson

Another intriguing prospect for McGregor’s first UFC lightweight title defense is ‘El Cucuy‘ Tony Ferguson.

Ferguson has been on an absolute tear in the UFC’s 155-pound division, currently riding a nine-fight win streak after having defeated former lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos in their main event clash earlier this month. ”El Cucuy’ possesses one of, if not the most feared D’Arce choke in the sport today that makes up three of his five UFC submission victories.

The 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu brown belt would certainly give McGregor a difficult time on the ground, as Ferguson’s wrestling should also play a factor as he is a former two-time NCWA All American champion.

Ferguson is also rather colorful with his words, similar to McGregor, but he prefers to do the bulk of his talking inside the Octagon. Ferguson’s spectacular showing against ‘RDA’ that propelled him into history as the first lightweight to rack up a nine-fight win streak should certainly put him in the running for a 155-pound title opportunity, not to mention quite the payday if he finds himself sharing the Octagon with ‘The Notorious One’.

3. Georges St-Pierre

With McGregor now becoming one of the most decorated champions the UFC has ever seen, perhaps a match-up with one of the most dominant champions the sport has ever had is in his near future.

Georges St-Pierre is ready to make his highly-anticipated MMA return, and is looking for a big money fight to do it. What fight is bigger than having the Canadian phenom ‘GSP’, who had been a dominant champion in the UFC’s welterweight division for six years, take on arguably the biggest draw the promotion has ever seen?

St-Pierre has not seen Octagon action since his controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks in 2013, in which he defended his welterweight title for the ninth consecutive time before suddenly announcing his retirement. Since then ‘GSP’ has taken some time off to pursue other opportunities, such as taking on movie roles in Hollywood.

Now, however, it seems the former welterweight champ is ready to return to his home inside the Octagon, and a mega-fight with McGregor could be an option on the table. Many found it interesting that St-Pierre was in attendance for McGregor’s UFC 196 meeting with Nate Diaz that many expected ‘The Notorious One’ to emerge victorious in, and proceed by calling out the Canadian, but Diaz had other plans as he took home a submission win.

If McGregor and St-Pierre do find themselves squaring off inside the Octagon down the road, it will certainly be a blockbuster MMA event for the ages.

2. Nate Diaz

One of the most entertaining feuds that has had fight fans the most emotionally invested than any other rivalry to recent memory, was when Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz were going toe-to-toe in their two-fight welterweight war.

McGregor was originally scheduled to attempt to make UFC history by becoming the first fighter in UFC history to be a dual-weight champion by taking on then-lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196, however, ‘RDA’ was forced out of the contest with a broken foot. Enter Nate Diaz who would go on to not only hand McGregor his first Octagon loss via round two submission, but arguably got the better of the Irishman on the microphone as well.

The loss would consume the Irishman who would force UFC President Dana White‘s hand to make the rematch for the ages, where McGregor would achieve vengeance with a majority decision win in one of the best five round contests of the year. After the contest, with each man now owning a win over the other, McGregor called for a third and final trilogy bout between he and Diaz, but it would have to be at 155-pounds.

Diaz is currently the No. 4-ranked lightweight in the world, while McGregor is now the division’s champion after his recent title win. If a third and final match-up between McGregor and Diaz is made, with the lightweight title now on the line, it could quite possibly be one of the biggest fights to ever go down under the UFC banner.

1. Floyd Mayweather

It might not be in the UFC, but it’s still a fight, and quite possibly the biggest fight in combat sports history.

Conor McGregor has accomplished a slew of historical feats in his short time with the UFC, and could look to take it a step further by attempting to be the first man to ever defeat Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather inside the squared circle. Both men have expressed interest in the boxing super-fight, however, McGregor is calling for the hefty price tag of $100 million to step into the ring with ‘Money’.

Mayweather has since retired from in-ring competition, but has stated that he would be open to returning for a fight that would break box office records, having ‘Notorious’ at the top of his list for potential opponents.

UFC President Dana White has stated that any fight with McGregor vs. Mayweather must go through him, adding on that there is ‘no way in hell’ that the fight is to be made. The contest would not only crush pay-per-view (PPV) records, but would do wonders for the UFC business wise as ‘The Notorious One’ is sure to bring over a number of fans from the boxing world if he gets embroiled in a feud with ‘Money’.

As of late Mayweather has since given up hope that the fight will ever be made, but with McGregor’s name continuing to get bigger and bigger with every passing second, one can only think that the possibility is all but over:

“I tried to make the fight happen between me and Conor McGregor,” Mayweather said. “We wasn’t able to make the fight happen, so we must move on.”