Det är oklart om och när Conor McGregor kommer att göra sin återkomst till UFC. En av de tänkbara motståndarna för McGregor är Nate Diaz, som dessutom har besegrat McGregor. Men i och med helgens UFC 216 verkar det som att Tony Ferguson står näst på tur för att möta den omåttligt populära irländaren. Ferguson vann som bekant interim-bältet i UFCs lättvikt mot Kevin Lee under UFC 216. Dana White har även sagt att Ferguson står näst på tur för McGregor.
UFCs mellanviktsmästare, Michael Bisping, sa nyligen via Belive You Me podcast att Ferguson är ett tuffare test för McGregor än Diaz:
Here’s the thing, [Nate] Diaz is saying he wants $20 million to fight Conor [McGregor] for the third time, which sounds insane. It is insane but realistically, if that was boxing, for an event that size, a fight that big for the PPV numbers, I feel like the boxer would get that money or close to it. […] But $20 million, I think what he’s doing there is pricing himself out of the market, simple as that. That’s why Dana is pushing the [Tony] Ferguson fight. Dana, by going out there at the press conference and saying publicly that Ferguson has to fight Conor, that takes the momentum away from Diaz so that’s gonna soften his stance on the 20 million. Maybe he’s just using that as a negotiation tactic but I think if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll say, ‘F-ck it, I’m not fighting then,’ and unfortunately, there is another good fight there with Ferguson vs. McGregor.”
While it doesn’t have the history of the Diaz-McGregor fight, that’s still a good fight and a lot of people are gonna pay to see that and that is a good backup plan for the UFC and it is the legitimate fight. Especially in the era where people are now talking sh-t about all these interim titles, it looks like a good PR move for the UFC as well. For sure [Tony Ferguson is a tougher fight than Nate Diaz]. The problem is for Tony Ferguson is that he does get hit. We saw that against Kevin Lee, he had his chin up in the air a few times and Kevin Lee exposed that. Conor, love him or hate him, the guy can fight and he can strike and he can box. We saw that against Mayweather and if Kevin Lee connected with Ferguson, sure as hell Conor will connect as well.
Bisping för ett resonemang om att Diaz med sina krav blir mindre attraktiv för UFC att matcha ihop med McGregor. Det sportsligt rätta är att McGregor möter den som har interim-bältet, i alla fall om han fortfarande vill kunna titulera sig som UFC-mästare. Matchen mot Diaz är fortfarande intressant och den matchen kan eventuellt bli av efter McGregors möte med Ferguson.
