TRADITIONAL LOGIC SUGGESTS that there should only be one option available to Conor McGregor once his rematch with Nate Diaz is out of the way.
With the reigning featherweight champion again set to fight outside of the featherweight division at UFC 202 a week on Saturday, McGregor’s first defence of the belt he took from Jose Aldo last December is now long overdue.
The UFC even created an interim 145lbs title as a means of stalling McGregor’s first outing as champion. Aldo defeated Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 to secure a shot at redemption against McGregor.
UFC president Dana White has stated on several occasions in recent months that McGregor must return to featherweight to defend his title after he faces Diaz in 10 days’ time, but Eddie Alvarez has other ideas.
Alvarez, who dethroned Rafael Dos Anjos last month to clinch the UFC lightweight title, has been talking up a lucrative clash with McGregor in recent weeks, which continued during a round of media appearances this week.
It’s widely expected that Alvarez will be matched with the undefeated top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov next, particularly since Dos Anjos and Tony Ferguson — who are ranked second and third respectively in the 155lbs division — have been booked to fight in November.
But in one of the many interviews he conducted with the media in the US yesterday, Alvarez offered a different take on the situation to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. The 32-year-old Philadelphia native explained that he’s waiting to weigh up his options until after the meeting of McGregor and Diaz — which is taking place at welterweight, despite both fighters being more familiar with lightweight — on 20 August.
“It’s a wait-and-see type thing right now. Let’s wait and see what 20 August brings and then let’s make a big fight after that,” said Alvarez, the former Bellator champion.
“I’m not sure what the promotion’s take is, but that’s where I stand. Those are the guys I want to get my hands on. I’ve said it from the very beginning: Fighting the best guys in the world doesn’t pay as good as the circus. I want to join the circus. I’m trying to get that circus money.
“As far as Nurmagomedov, I just don’t get how you become the number one contender without actually fighting guys who are ranked in the top 10. It kind of baffles me. The lightweight division right now is a bunch of guys who fight opponents ranked in the top 30 and never actually take a risk and fight a top-5 guy.
“I can walk into a restaurant and knock five guys out, become 5-0 real quick. It’s about the quality of opponent. You have to beat the right guys to call yourself the number one contender.”
McGregor was due to face Rafael Dos Anjos for the lightweight title back in March, until Dos Anjos withdrew 11 days beforehand due to an injury. In stepped Nate Diaz, who submitted McGregor in the second round of the UFC 196 main event.
The main attraction then for McGregor seemed to be the prospect of becoming the first fighter to hold two UFC belts at the same time. If the Dubliner does turn out to be Alvarez’s first challenger at lightweight, it wouldn’t be the first time a UFC matchmaking decision has raised eyebrows.
However, surely on this occasion — a hypothetical third consecutive fight outside of the division where he’s the champion — McGregor would finally have to vacate the featherweight strap.
“It’d be nice to stop being asked about it,” said Alvarez regarding a fight with McGregor. “It’s a little bit annoying, you know? I don’t look at him the same way I look at and respect a Rafael Dos Anjos — or any of the top guys who fight the real fighters.”
In a separate interview with CBS Sports Radio, Alvarez had this to say about McGregor:
I don’t know him personally, but thank God he’s good at talking because he can’t fight for shit. Look, in this sport — the good thing about the UFC and MMA in general is a lot of it’s based on perception. They’re very good at tweaking this perception. If I can put the right guy with the right mouthpiece in front of the right opponents, we can build a champion, but he doesn’t really have to beat the best guys; we just have to give him the right match-ups.
“This is what this guy’s been given. Any real fighter, anybody who knows the sport of MMA, sees the style match-ups that he picks and understands this guy is not putting himself in any danger. He’s not fighting anyone who he feels he can lose to.”
