Tyron Woodley, Nate Diaz Emerge As Possible Opponents For Conor McGregor
Over the weekend, Conor McGregor made history by becoming the UFC lightweight champion while also holding the featherweight championship, making him the first fighter in company history to hold two championships simultaneously, which is quite impressive. But, what could be more impressive than that? Well, there’s a chance that he could go after Tyron Woodley’s welterweight championship next.
Following his fight with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson at this past weekend’s UFC 205 — which was headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez — Tyron Woodley said that he’d be open to fighting the UFC’s number one draw. In fact, he said that he’d be willing to sign the contract “right now” if McGregor actually wants to do the fight.
At the UFC 205 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said that Tyron Woodley’s next opponent will be Stephen Thompson because their fight at this past weekend’s show ended in a draw. But, Woodley isn’t interested in fighting “Wonderboy” again, because now, he wants “big money” fights, and there isn’t a bigger money fight than a fight with Conor McGregor.
There are some who believe that McGregor would be making a mistake if he chose to fight Woodley, but, there are also some, including ex-UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, who believe that the two-division champ could win the welterweight championship.
Yes especially if Wood continues this overhand right obsession. https://t.co/bVk6u1Lw0B
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 15, 2016
I'm not saying Connor would win, I'm saying he could win if wood doesn't use all the tools he's capable of https://t.co/qFe8sVrKR7
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 15, 2016
While Woodley could be next in line for McGregor, it’s way more likely that the Irishman will match up with his biggest rival — Nate Diaz — next.
Diaz and McGregor have had two incredible fights this year, and both of them did big business on pay-per-view. So, there’s a strong chance that Diaz could leap over Khabib Nurmagomedov — who’s threatening to leave the UFC if he doesn’t get the next lightweight title shot — and Tony Ferguson as the next contender for the lightweight title.
Both of the Diaz vs. McGregor fights took place at welterweight, but, Diaz’s natural weight class is lightweight, where’s he’s currently ranked fifth, behind Rafael Dos Anjos, Eddie Alvarez, Tony Ferguson, and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
It seems pretty obvious that the UFC will look at making the third Diaz vs. McGregor fight happen at some point in the next couple of months, but, according to Nate Diaz, who did an interview with ESPN following McGregor’s win, the UFC didn’t want him anywhere near the new lightweight champ over the weekend. In fact, he claims that the UFC gave away his ticket, just so they could keep him out of the building.
“As soon as [McGregor wins], hundreds of people are turning around and staring at me. “I’m like, ‘Hey, what do you want me to do?’ The UFC didn’t even want to give me tickets to this fight. I think they gave Nick Jonas my seat.”
After his second bout with McGregor, Diaz said that he’s not interested in fighting again unless his next fight is with the two-division champ. So far, he’s stayed true to his word, and he hasn’t even come close to coming back to fight someone else.
According to Dana White, this past weekend’s show broke the company’s all-time pay-per-view record, which was set by McGregor and Diaz. So, a third fight between the two, especially if it’s for the lightweight title, would have the potential to set a new record.
There’s only one way that a third fight between Diaz and McGregor won’t happen next, and that’s if ex-welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre agrees to return to the UFC. There have been rumors of a possible GSP vs. McGregor fight in the past. In fact, the UFC was reportedly planning that fight before Diaz beat McGregor earlier this year, and now that McGregor is back to his winning ways, they may go ahead and book GSP vs. McGregor, which would probably end up being the biggest fight in UFC history.
[Featured Image by Michael Reaves/Getty Images]
