5 potential opponents for Conor McGregor on his UFC return

Conor McGregor had a bitter-sweet experience this past Saturday night. The reigning UFC Lightweight Champion made his professional boxing debut and went toe-to-toe with undefeated American pugilist Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The vast majority of combat sports pundits, as well as the legions of fans, gave Conor little to no chance of even landing a handful of strikes on Floyd. Nevertheless, the Irishman proved his doubters wrong once again—albeit to a certain extent—tagging Mayweather in the early going and giving the man one of the toughest wars of his life.

However, the UFC star’s dreaded cardio issues came back to haunt him once again, as he faded hard and fast after Round 6 of the matchup. FMJ took over, tagging his gassed ‘Notorious’ rival; punctuating the end with an exclamation point as the referee decided to call off the bout in Round 10.

Regardless, Conor gained respect during his TKO defeat at the hands of Floyd, as both fans and critics showered the Irishman with praise for putting on a considerably respectable performance in what was his pro-boxing debut.

With that out of the way, the UFC 155 pound kingpin is now likely to return to the Octagon in order to defend his strap. ‘Against whom?’ You say…Well, here’s a list of worthy, dangerous challengers for Mystic Mac’s UFC gold:

#5 Edson Barboza

Granted that Edson may have dropped a couple of bouts to fellow top contenders Tony Ferguson and Michael Johnson however with the run that the Brazilian is on as of late, it’s hard not to see him get a shot at UFC gold at 155.

Barboza is an excellent stylistic matchup for McGregor, what with the former being a deadly Muay Thai specialist, while the latter is a sniper with his hands and snake with his knees to the gut.

Both fighters have well-honed defensive grappling skills as well, with the Brazilian holding the edge in grappling offence over his ‘Notorious’ Irish foe.

#4 Anthony Pettis

Before you get out the pitchforks on this one, hear me out. Pettis suffered a bad TKO loss in his Interim-Featherweight title fight to Max Holloway and had a ho-hum showing against Jim Miller in his return to Lightweight.

However, given the fact that we’re now in the era of…ahem…’Money Fights’, it seldom gets much better and more marketable than McGregor vs Pettis. Both combatants are exciting KO artists and always go for the kill.

Besides, apart from the aforementioned loss to Holloway, 'Showtime' has merely dropped a couple of decisions to high-level opposition, in fights that many argued he should’ve gotten the nod.

#3 Kevin Lee

Kevin Lee is the dark horse of the UFC Lightweight division.

The 24-year-old Mo Town phenom Kevin Lee is all set to face Tony Ferguson on October 7th at UFC 216 for the Interim-UFC Lightweight Championship of the world.

Lee is an excellent wrestler with decent BJJ skills, who seems to be steadily improving as a striker. Should he prevail at UFC 216, he will be a great test for Conor’s TDD (Takedown Defense), given the fact that the latter has time and again had trouble with crafty grapplers on the mat (Eddie Alvarez fight notwithstanding).

#2 Tony Ferguson

Tony Ferguson is widely regarded as the Boogeyman at 155 pounds.

Well, El Cucuy is the favourite to bag Interim-UFC Lightweight gold at UFC 216.

While Ferguson is expected to run through Kevin Lee, he’s has a tough test ahead in Conor McGregor, given the fact that he’d have to face ‘Notorious’ in a title-unification bout to restore order and decorum in the upper echelons of the UFC’s chaotic 155-pound division.

Ferguson is a dynamic striker with excellent BJJ and is capable of both knocking Conor out as well as submitting him on the mat.

#1 Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib is undefeated in MMA competition.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is undefeated. He’s also, unfortunately, perpetually injured thanks to the caveman training techniques at AKA. Nevertheless, the Eagle never backs down from a challenge and Conor himself has previously asserted that he’d love to face the Russian in the latter’s homeland.

Should Conor choose to fight Nurmy, rather than facing the winner of the UFC 216 bout right away, the Eagle would be more than willing to welcome McGregor to Mother Russia in the mother of all MMA showdowns (pun intended).

To say that Khabib has great grappling would, in and of itself, be a severe understatement. The man mauls people once he gets them to the mat. He can submit you, should he choose to show mercy or give you a facial reconstruction (Bear style!) with a hellacious barrage of Ground & Pound.

Choose your poison.

Conor McGregor, beware! Monsters lie in wait for you, licking their chops at the prospect of facing a damaged fighter, what with the insane war and late-fight beat-down you received at the hands of one Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Who’d you like to see welcome McGregor back to the Octagon? Sound off in the comments!