The Opportunities For McGregor are Endless After UFC 257 Loss

               When discussing the “it factor” in the most successful athletes in the world, one of the biggest questions to answer is what is the “it” in question. For Conor McGregor, there are several things that could be in contention for giving him the “it factor,” such as his abilities on the mic in pre and post-fight press conferences or the pride he takes in his home country of Ireland and the pride that the fighting Irish have in him, but for me it’s his unpredictability which to his credit has allowed him to participate in some of the biggest fights in combat sports history. I mean look at his recent history. Take away the Cowboy Cerrone fight, his fight before that was the arguably the biggest fight in combat sports when he put on the 8 oz. gloves and boxed Floyd Mayweather for 30 minutes before running out of stream. Before that? Conor fought Khabib in the highest selling pay-per-view in UFC history. All of that being said, and generally understood by even those who don’t follow the fight game, I think it strikes up the most entertaining question you could ask any UFC fan, “What should the UFC do with Conor McGregor after his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257?”

               Before we can even talk about what the UFC should do with Conor McGregor, I think it’s important to discuss what the UFC should not do with Conor McGregor. First, I think it would be straight up foolish to let him walk away right now and do another boxing exhibition like he did with Mayweather. Thankfully, this theory seems to look like less of a possibility as time goes on because the name that mostly gets attached to Conor returning to the boxing ring is Manny Paquiao who seemingly is in talks to fight Ryan Garcia currently. Outside of the boxing route, the other big mistake the UFC could make with Conor is the same mistake they made in 2020 by allowing him to go inactive despite expressing a willingness to fight. Specifically, in 2020 Conor said that he wanted to fight at least three times and all that Dana and the UFC managed to give him was one fight against Donald Cerrone that only lasted 40 seconds. While this inactivity may have been unjust to the fans, it was also completely unfair to McGregor, and although I refuse to make excuses for him, the lack of real fight time in the octagon may or may not have affected his rusty performance against Poirier.

               Now that we’ve discussed what the UFC should not be doing with Conor, it’s important to look at his options through the lens of time. Conor just fought, and although that doesn’t usually mean much, Dustin really damaged his leg in their fight and the growing fear within the community is that he might have fractured a bone in the leg. If true, we could be McGregorless for 6 months, however with negative x-rays we could see the medical suspension reduced to only 45 days.

               So, contingent upon the fact that Conor’s leg is fine and that he will be capable of fighting multiple times in 2021, we can finally discuss who that should be against. If you ask Conor and his team what their ideal path is at the moment, it appears that they want the trilogy rematch fight against Poirier potentially in May or June, hopefully from a position that Dustin is the champion of the division at that point and that there will be gold on the line. Honestly, if you want my real opinion, solid plan. Get yourself right physically and mentally, correct the mistakes from the last fight, and redeem yourself. However, from the UFC’s perspective, the result at UFC 257 was pretty emphatic in favor of Poirier, so as opposed to Figueredo and Moreno, who Dana White said would be running that fight back as soon as possible, I think McGregor’s situation is a little bit different and he is going to need a fight in between to reassert himself as a top contender for that belt.

               Assuming that this logic applies to the situation, who can Conor compete with that accomplishes this goal for him? From a business perspective, perhaps the biggest fight that the UFC can put on is another McGregor trilogy. Although his trigger fingers may have turned to Twitter fingers in the recent past, Nate Diaz announced that he wanted to make a return to the UFC in 2021 and to no surprise he wants to do it at 155 because it appears Conor’s days of moving up to 170 are over and it seems Diaz is hungry to avenge his most recent loss to McGregor. This fight definitely passes the eye test because from just a glance all the elements of a good story are there. Specifically, these two dudes flat out do not like each other, and what better way to get Conor back on his feet than to allow him to compete against a formidable foe in Diaz, in a grudge match nonetheless. Moreover, I think this fight should be enticing to McGregor because it would be contested at a much more natural weight for him. Recently Conor’s conditioning has been criticized with one of the pinnacle pieces of evidence being his first fight against Diaz which saw him run out of gas and get finished. However, prior to this fight Conor was in the 145 division and the 155 division so at the least he had to pack on 15 pounds for the fight which can undoubtedly make a fighter seem sluggish and more out of shape than usual because they’re toting around that extra weight. So, in allowing these two to compete and finish this trilogy at 155 I think Conor has an advantage because he should be quicker and more fluid than he was in either of their previous two fights, and I can only imagine he would be salivating at the opportunity to finally shut Diaz’s mouth.

               Say Nate isn’t the answer, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bronze medal match from UFC 257 pitting the main event losers against each other in McGregor and Dan Hooker. Contrary to the Diaz fight that seems like a supernatural alignment of the stars, there is an unpredictable element to this fight in that after his loss to Michael Chandler Dan Hooker exited the cage and turned around to throw his gloves back into the cage, seemingly giving the universal signal for retirement in this sport. So, assuming Hooker isn’t retiring and will fight again in the UFC this fight makes a lot of sense because it would be a battle to retain relevance. First, both men are coming off of a loss, and Hooker is coming off of back-to-back losses, yet despite an off performance against Michael Chandler, Hooker has been one of the most consistent fighters in the UFC and actually fought Poirier better than Conor did in my opinion. Stylistically, I think the two matchup well as strikers, with Hooker reigning from City Kickboxing and training with other stars of the sport such as Israel Adesanya, and I think the way that Hooker fights puts McGregor in a position to immediately have to correct his mistakes from his last fight or see his leg brutalized again leaving him unable to move how he likes and probably having to cope with a similar outcome. Additionally, I think making this fight would give us as fans a chance to see how badly Conor wants to compete because The Hangman is a tough night out for anybody and without the fear of takedowns haunting him like they did in the Chandler fight I see this fight making its way into the championship rounds and both fighters picking up significant injuries, so if Conor truly does want to be in the organization, fighting at the highest level in the sport, going through Hooker would be a great way to test his character as a fighter at this stage in his career.

               Still, if not Hooker or Diaz then who? One of the options that could be in store for him may be a legitimate contender who moves up from 145. First, Alexander Volkanovski has expressed an interest in sharing the octagon with McGregor, however the waters on this one are muddied by the fact that Volko already has a fight lined up with Brian Ortega to defend his title in February, so unless we see this fight towards the end of the year this is one I’d keep in the back of our minds for early 2022. On the other hand, the Ortega V. Volkanovski fight may set up something more interesting in analyzing what the UFC will do with Max Holloway. Max just fought and put on a record setting performance against Calvin Kattar on ABC, self-proclaiming himself the best boxer in the organization. In spite of this, Volkanovski has refuted any claims that he’ll fight Max again because although their second fight was largely controversial Volkanovski has beaten him twice. So, what does that leave for Max at 145? The answer as it seems at the moment is not a title fight, and even if it is, Max being the competitor that he is I don’t think will want to sit around and wait, leaving his fate up to Volkanovski and Dana White. Moreover, Holloway has expressed an interest in moving up to 155 eventually and what better time to do it than when opportunities are limited at his current weight class. To make things even more entertaining, these two already fought once back in 2013 at 145, and if the Poirier fight taught us anything it’s that the time in between fights has given each the opportunity to evolve and improve their game. So, personally, if I had to call for one of these fights at the moment I think it would be this one because it would be an all out slugfest to determine who belongs in the highest echelon of boxers in the promotion.

               Finally, if all else fails, if none of these fights I’ve already proposed finds its way to fruition there is one man that will bet on himself against anybody in the world and fight his heart out, and that man is Tony Ferguson. Given the shared of dislike for Khabib between the two, this seems like a fight that has to be made, but there are several other elements that should spark an interest in this bout. Particularly, both men are at a crossroads moment in their careers where both the fans and the UFC are largely curious to see A. How badly these guys want it and B. How capable they both are of still fighting at this level. Moreover, from a fan’s perspective I think it is undeniable that these two would set off fireworks in press conferences and face-offs and attract a lot of attention to a pay-per-view card. Stylistically, they match up well, and it almost seems like a disservice that at this stage in both of their respective careers that we haven’t seen this fight yet. So, Dana, the ball is in your court.

               All in all, as a whole I think 2021 will be the year we all expected 2020 to be for McGregor, and as long as the UFC doesn’t allow him to escape away into the world of exhibition boxing or sit on ice for no justifiable reason, I think we could see Conor back in a position to compete for the belt in late 2021 or early 2022, regardless of the Poirier loss.