Getty What's next for Conor McGregor?
Conor McGregor’s surprising superfight “possibility” on Fight Island was revealed this week during an appearance by UFC president Dana White on the “Menace and The Man” podcast.
During that show, White essentially admitted that the “something else interesting” the company might have in store for welterweight star Jorge Masvidal next might indeed be a superfight against McGregor for Masvidal’s BMF belt.
White said on the podcast that, “there’s another interesting fight out there for [Masvidal] right now” and after being asked specifically about it being the 170-pound menace defending his BMF title against McGregor on Fight Island, White said, “very good point. That’s a possibility too.”
‘Something Else’ Could Be McGregor vs. Masvidal
Last week, White revealed to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that the company was looking at “something else” for Masvidal instead of the BMF champ’s assumed title shot against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman coming next.
During his recent podcast appearance on “Menance and The Man” White seemed to reiterate that point.
“The Usman fight is the fight that makes sense,” White said. “It’s the fight that needs to happen if Masvidal wants a title shot.”
Still, McGregor vs. Masvidal would be a massive fight. In fact, the riveting matchup could potentially break box-office records or at least come as close as any other fight at usurping McGregor’s UFC 229 fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov as the best-selling UFC pay-per-view event ever.
On the podcast, White admitted the UFC had several massive fights on tap that could do huge numbers.
“I think Conor-Khabib is a massive fight,” White said. “Conor against anybody is a massive fight. Tony [Ferguson] and Khabib, if that thing can happen it’s a massive fight.”
Regardless, it would make some sense for Masvidal to seek out the McGregor fight over the title shot against Usman. He’d likely make more money facing McGregor than he would in facing Usman, and a win over the UFC’s biggest superstar could also skyrocket Masvidal’s already massively successful career into something even greater than he ever imagined possible.
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White Backs off McGregor vs. Masvidal
Despite White calling McGregor vs. Masvidal a “possibility” on the podcast, the UFC’s top executive later backed off the idea when asked about the reports by MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin.
Per Martin, White believes either Usman or Colby Covington is next up for the UFC’s BMF champ. Either of those fights would also be huge events though neither would come close to McGregor vs. Masvidal.
Dana added that Masvidal fighting Usman makes the most sense but then he added “Masvidal wants the fight or the rematch with Covington, I don’t know right now. There’s a lot of options for that guy”
So it sounds like nothing has been decided.
Still, one wonders if McGregor vs. Masvidal might actually still be on the table, with White simply trying to manage the news cycle while all the different parties negotiate.
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Twitter: @Kelsey_McCarson