Who Should Conor Mcgregor Fight Next

• Conor Mcgregor Vs Dustin Poirier Full Fight
• When Is Mcgregor's Next Fight
• Who Should Conor Mcgregor Fight Next Fight

Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor, who was suspended six months by the Nevada Athletic Commission for participating in the UFC 229 postfight brawl, can return to the Octagon in April. He recently took to Twitter to voice his support for potential opponents Cowboy Cerrone, Anderson Silva, Max Holloway, Nate Diaz and more.

Anderson is one crafty, crafty Martial Artist.
You only develop these methods through years of hard fought experience.
Phenomenal performance.
The crafty veteran. Big respect always.
It would be an honor!

Conor McGregor will be back in the UFC octagon this weekend when he takes on Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 this weekend on Fight Island. But the legendary fighter is also eyeing a return to the boxing. And then you book McGregor vs. Diaz 3, knowing that fight sells, and you can turn around and sell the winner - regardless of who it is - as a future title contender for Poirier.

- Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 10, 2019

Book it. I'll fight Nate on it. https://t.co/ewh4aQ4E7A

- Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 10, 2019

For a fight like that Donald, I'll fight you.
Congratulations.

- Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 20, 2019

Which of these possible foes -- or someone else -- should 'The Notorious' face when he fights next? ESPN's MMA contributors -- Brett Okamoto, Ariel Helwani, Jeff Wagenheim, Chamatkar Sandhu, Eric Tamiso, Phil Murphy and Andrew Davis -- give their takes.

Okamoto: How good does it feel to see McGregor tweeting about fights instead of whiskey again? Good, right? Of course, until he actually signs a bout agreement, these call-outs don't mean a lot -- but still. It's nice to see him expressing interest in his next fight.

Look, I'd be more than happy with a Holloway rematch or a Diaz trilogy. I'd be thrilled. But right now, I really like the Cowboy Cerrone fight, man. I do. The UFC's biggest star against its all-time leader in wins. It feels fresh. UFC president Dana White recently said Cerrone 'deserved' the McGregor fight, and I actually think that's a fair way to put it. Cerrone has never been the type of fighter to ask for a specific opponent. He's choosing to do so now, and I think he's earned that right.

Helwani: There's no right answer here. Do you want to see McGregor vs. Cerrone next? Of course you do. Do you want to see him rematch Holloway? Absolutely. Do you want to see the Diaz trilogy? Yup. The Anderson Silva fight doesn't make much sense to me, but we'd all watch. You know this is true. McGregor once told me the fight game is all about 'numbers and options.' He has both right now. Most important, though? A win. His next fight is an absolute must-win. No doubt about that. After all, we are getting close to three years without a win for McGregor. So if I were advising him, I'd take the most winnable fight next, get back on track and then proceed to watch the numbers and options continue to grow.

Wagenheim: Anyone but Holloway. I'm not as interested in weighing in on whom McGregor should fight as I am in opining on whom he shouldn't. Conor is not currently in a position -- coming off a loss, with no wins since 2016 -- where he merits a title challenge at featherweight or in any other division. And I don't think a non-title scrap with Max at lightweight makes sense, either, as the only fight at 155 pounds that the 145-pound champion should be allowed to chase (while keeping his belt) is a champ vs. champ clash.

Beyond that, whatever McGregor wants -- Cowboy, Spider or Nate -- is fine with me. Conor has proven himself to be as top-shelf as that famous brand of Irish whiskey he likes to ridicule. He doesn't need any one of these guys in particular to help him build a legacy. A spectacular win over any of them -- and let's face it, every Conor victory has some majesty to it -- would put him right back in position to challenge for a strap. Is that what he truly wants, though? McGregor's cordial callouts of late suggest that he's looking for fights that will keep the sport interesting for him.

Looking at it from that perspective, I guess I'd most favor putting Conor in the cage with Cerrone because that seems like a fight whose time has come. A matchup with Silva, by contrast, is beyond its sell-by date -- it'd surely sell anyway, but matching a fighter in his prime against a guy who's about to turn 44 years old might turn the stomach. And as for Nate III, that'll always be sitting there in the back pocket. There's no sell-by date on that one -- those two can duke it out in a retirement home three decades from now and it'll still do a big PPV number. So go ahead and hand the notorious Irishmnan a bolo tie and send him out to the dusty Wild West to see if he can lasso the guy in the cowboy hat.

Sandhu: There are a lot of fights that make sense for Conor McGregor right now, and to be quite honest, I'd be down for pretty much any of them. I just want the biggest star in our sport booked for a fight ASAP. We miss him.

That being said, the one that jumps off the page for me is Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone. Stylistically, on paper, this is a fun fight. You just know it'll be action-packed. Cerrone is hot right now, coming off a fight-of-the-night win over Alex Hernandez, which kicked off the UFC on ESPN era and did gangbuster numbers. It was also his return to lightweight and he looked great. So much so that he got some props from McGregor on social media. That, as the kids would say, was the seed. Cerrone wants it, McGregor wants it. Here you have two of the biggest names in the sport and a fight that could headline a pay-per-view and do well over one million buys.

Cerrone doesn't have too much time left in this sport and wants to put together a run to warrant a title shot. A win over McGregor would certainly go a long way in helping make that dream a reality. For McGregor, he needs a win in the Octagon and has the skillset to beat Cerrone. It would be a very even contest. It's also a fresh matchup. Not a rematch with Holloway or Diaz. We've seen those fights and while I'd love to see the sequel and the trilogy respectively, it would be refreshing and I think quite fun to see what a McGregor vs. Cerrone buildup would look like.

Tamiso: Many times in combat sports after a superstar loses, or hasn't fought in a while, their next match isn't against the stiffest competition. When Mike Tyson was stunned by Buster Douglas, his comeback bout was against Henry Tillman. While being an Olympic gold medalist, Tillman wasn't an elite pro and played a 'contender' that lost to Tommy Gunn in Rocky V. After Anderson Silva rearranged Rich Franklin's nose for the first time, the former champ took on Jason MacDonald, who while being a super nice guy, went 6-8 in the UFC. For the first bout after Oscar De La Hoya's first pro loss, he fought Derell Coley, who went on to compete at a Ramada Inn after being knocked out by 'The Golden Boy.'

My point? Fight promoters often attempt to build a star's momentum back up by putting them in a bout that can put them in the best possible light. It reminds fans of the come up years and they'll think, 'Hey, this guy can still fight' and potentially add more content to the highlight reel. At the very least, you want a fun fight, and a fun lead up to said fight.

McGregor's next opponent should be Diaz. The trilogy fight was always going to happen from a business perspective, the rematch is the second biggest UFC PPV of all-time, so why not book it now? Diaz is 3-3 in his past six fights, and it'd be close to three years since their second fight. Don't be scared.

Murphy: Conor's next fight needs to make a lot of sense for both he and the UFC. It's intuitive, but those benchmarks are particularly critical when the UFC's biggest all-time star remains winless since November 2016.

While McGregor and featherweight champ Max Holloway both seem keen on building a functional super-fight -- and I'd pony up $65 for that in heartbeat -- now is not the time to diminish one of those two stars. There are two options for Conor this summer: capping the Nate Diaz trilogy or answering Cowboy's call.

The former has inelastic demand; that fight could be staged in 2022 and get 1.5 million buys. The window to face Donald Cerrone seems like it would shut faster, so that's where I lean.

Conor vs. Cowboy an promotional layup that doesn't compromise Conor's existing rivalries against either Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov. The renewed, black hat Cowboy, who was clearly motivated by the disrespect from Alex Hernandez, facing a man Notorious for disrespecting his opponent in pre-fight build-up is a stylistic dream that has justification within the lightweight hierarchy.

Davis: At this stage of his career, McGregor is a main-event fighter and he needs to fight in the main event. Regardless of whether an interim title is on the line or not, the fight I want to see is McGregor vs. 'Cowboy' Cerrone. Cerrone is the UFC's all-time leader in knockdowns with 18 and has 10 wins by knockout while McGregor has knockouts in 18 of his 21 wins. This fight is a dream for bringing old and new UFC fans to pay-per-view.

When McGregor fights, people want to watch. They want to see what he'll do in the cage, but they also want to hear what he will say outside of it. If I'm the UFC and Team McGregor (and for that matter Team Cerrone), I keep the trash talk out of this fight and put the focus on the fact that these men are both new to fatherhood and are fighting for their families. These two fighters don't need to sell this fight with their words; just grab some whiskey or beer and watch their highlight reels.

As the biggest star in combat sports, Conor McGregor is always blessed with a plethora of options when considering his next career move. But those avenues may have reduced a little following his second-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.

That defeat means that McGregor has now gone 3-3 in his past six octagon appearances, and with the welterweight and lightweight titles looking at least two fights away, the big question now concerns the direction McGregor might take next.

Conor Mcgregor Vs Dustin Poirier Full Fight

Will he continue on his quest to regain the 155-pound title? Will he chase another big fight in another weight class? Or could a return to the boxing ring be on the cards?

We put the question of McGregor’s next move to MMA Junkie’s Simon Head, Danny Segura, and Nolan King for this edition of Triple Take. Check out their respective opinions below.

Simon Head: It's time for the Max Holloway rematch

Perhaps for the first time in his UFC career, McGregor is looking ever-so-slightly boxed in. He can’t realistically challenge for a belt next, the Khabib Nurmagomedov fight appears to be well and truly off the table, and a trilogy fight with Poirier is likely to have to wait while “The Diamond” fights for the soon-to-be-vacated UFC lightweight strap.

It means McGregor needs a big fight against a big name who isn’t likely to be tied up in a title fight in the immediate future. That narrows the field down to three men: Nate Diaz, Max Holloway and Jorge Masvidal. Given what Poirier just did to him, I’m not sure facing an even heavier striker in Masvidal is the best idea, especially at 170 pounds, while there are never any guarantees the Diaz fight can actually be made in short order. The UFC should start the ball rolling with negotiations with Diaz now, but book the fight for Q3.

The best option right now is the rematch with Holloway. Max is in a tricky spot himself, having clearly placed himself as the No. 1 contender for the featherweight title after his masterclass against Calvin Kattar at UFC on ABC 1. But, with Alex Volkanovski set to face Brian Ortega next and seemingly not that keen to face “Blessed” a third time, Max may have to sit tight and wait for his next title shot at 145. But a lightweight scrap with McGregor could give him, and McGregor, a runout both men would relish in a big-time main event bout.

The history is there, from their first meeting way back in 2013 in Boston, and both men claim to be the best boxer in the UFC. Why not put it to the test? Hell, if Dana White wanted to finally get his Zuffa Boxing venture off the ground, he could even book the pair in a boxing match and save handing one of them another “L” on their MMA records.

Whether it’s in the octagon or the boxing ring, Holloway vs. McGregor is the fight to make. Book it, Dana.

Nolan King: Tony Ferguson is the clear choice

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MAY 09: Tony Ferguson of the United States prepares to fight Justin Gaethje of the United States prior to their Interim lightweight title fight during UFC 249 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on May 09, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 775510622 ORIG FILE ID: 1223924548

McGregor and Tony Ferguson still carry major name recognition from their heydays, but what about their skills? How do their abilities compare to the peak versions of their selves? Each fighter is at a crossroad, and those questions remain to be answered. That makes a pairing between the two all the more interesting.

Both are in dire need of a bounce-back fight after recent struggles. McGregor has lost two out of three, and has only competed twice since October 2018. Meanwhile, Ferguson was dominated in his last eight rounds as he lost back-to-back fights to Gaethje and Charles Oliveira.

It’s also worth mentioning the history. Since McGregor won the lightweight title in November 2017, Ferguson has angled the fight against “McNuggets.” McGregor has (obviously) hurled his fair share of trash talk toward Ferguson, too.

Ferguson would be a rebound fight for McGregor. It’s the opportunity to fight someone who can be promoted as a formidable opponent but, who is also a step down from the Poiriers and Nurmagomedovs of the world. For Ferguson, of course, he gets the money fight.

Somewhat shockingly, the stars haven’t yet aligned for these two to meet inside the cage. So why not now? Better late than never.

Danny Segura: Trilogy with Nate Diaz

Aug 20, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Nate Diaz (red gloves) competes against Conor McGregor (blue gloves) during UFC 202 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

This might sound rough, but I have to call it how I see it – McGregor today in 2021 is not a top-5 lightweight.

McGregor, who once sat on top of the MMA world holding both the UFC lightweight and featherweight titles, has experienced a noticeable drop-off in his MMA game. The division has also improved greatly since he was champion back in 2016. I do not believe the Irishman can hang with the top tier of the division such as Poirier, Gaethje, and Chandler.

McGregor is phenomenal talent, but inactivity is killing his game (as it would to most fighters).

He fought 13 times in four years and two months to become UFC champ-champ. After the incredible feat in November 2016, McGregor only comped three times in MMA over the same amount of time – four years and two months. McGregor needs to be active in order to be sharp. The combat sports star badly needs a tune-up fight, but that’s a rare practice in the UFC.

The closest thing he can get to a tune-up is a trilogy bout with Nate Diaz. The Stockton native is still very skilled, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not a top-five fighter today. It’s a tough fight to revisit, but it’s close as you can get to a tune-up fight for McGregor.

When Is Mcgregor's Next Fight

McGregor is not a bad fighter by any means and could still be championship material, you can’t rule that out just yet. However, he needs to sharpen his game through activity and the clock is ticking. At 32, he still has time to turn the corner, but the UFC needs to act now and make a “McGregor season” in 2021.

Who Should Conor Mcgregor Fight Next Fight

A great place to start that is doing a trilogy bout with Diaz and putting the cap on one of the biggest and most lucrative rivalries in MMA.