Getty Conor McGregor reacts before taking on Donald Cerrone in their welterweight bout during UFC2 46 at T-Mobile Arena on January 18, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On Monday, April 6, UFC president Dana White revealed the main event of April 18’s UFC 249. The original fight scheduled was between UFC lightweight champion Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov and the No. 1 ranked lightweight contender, Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson. However, The Eagle is currently in his home country of Russia, and the logistics behind getting him to the fight were seemingly insurmountable due to COVID-19.
Because of this, yesterday White revealed that Khabib was out of the fight against El Cucuy. The new main event will feature El Cucuy fighting the No. 4 ranked lightweight, Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje for the interim lightweight belt.
Now that the fight has been confirmed, and assuming the event goes according to plan, what happens to Conor “Notorious” McGregor now that UFC 249 will feature an interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje?
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Conor McGregor Is Ranked Number 3 at Lightweight & a Title Shot Next Seems Unlikely
There have been a lot of conversations about Conor McGregor’s next move. Before the Khabib and Ferguson fight was derailed, the top two front-runners for opponents were seemingly the winner of that match or a top-contender bout against Justin Gaethje.
The UFC 249 main event features an interim title fight, and historically, the interim champ is guaranteed a fight with the champion. Objectively, the chances of McGregor being next in line are almost zero. But because of the business Notorious brings in for the company, anything is possible when it comes to the Irishman.
Presumably, the winner of Gaethje and Ferguson will fight Khabib in the summer or early fall, and if McGregor wants to wait for a lightweight title shot, he would be shelved until late 2020. During the lead up to his fight against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246, Notorious made it clear he wanted to fight at least three times in 2020.
If he does end up fighting in the summer, assuming UFC events are continuing even if the coronavirus pandemic is still affecting everyday life, he may end up fighting either the loser of UFC 249’s main event, No. 2 ranked lightweight Dustin Poirier in a rematch or even possibly No. 5 ranked Dan Hooker. The only person coming off a win in those three fight scenarios would be Hooker.
It’s unclear if the UFC would want to schedule McGregor against someone coming off a loss. The promotion did that with Cerrone, but McGregor was coming off a loss as well.
Another option would be a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz. Even though Diaz is coming off a loss, both men are 1-1 against each other. A summer main event fight between Diaz and McGregor could make a lot of sense for the promotion, as it allows the future interim lightweight champ and The Eagle to fight in the summer or early fall. If McGregor were to fight and beat Diaz, then the UFC may pit the Irishman against the unified lightweight champ in late 2020.
Welterweight champ Kamaru Usman and top contender Jorge Masvidal both have expressed interest in fighting McGregor as well, but a fight between the two welterweights is apparently in the works.
And then there’s always the chance that McGregor goes right into a boxing match, possibly against Manny Pacquiao.
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