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Conor McGregor is right back in the mix at UFC and having expressed his desire to prove himself in the Octagon again, the MMA World has become a lot more exciting. Love him or hate him, there's no denying that the sport is much better with McGregor in it.
He picked Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone apart in just 40 seconds. The expectation now is that the winner of the Lightweight Championship bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson will face Conor McGregor later in the year.
That's what Dana White wants anyway. Denying the possibility of a fight against Jorge Masvidal, the UFC President said that he wants to see Gamebred face Kamaru Usman for the Welterweight Championship.
That's a great fight that looks like it's on the verge of happening as Masvidal revealed that the negotiations have begun.
Michael Bisping, however, has a different take to the entire situation involving Conor McGregor. He said that despite Dana White's insistence on doing Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor 2, the Russian won't just blindly agree. Moreover, after April, Nurmagomedov will be out until the final quarter of the year due to Ramadan. On his podcast Believe You Me, he said (H/T BJPENN.com):
“Dana said if Conor wins, 100 percent the next fight for him is Khabib. And I said, ‘what, Khabib’s just gonna do whatever he’s told?’ And he said, ‘listen Khabib will take the fight.’ He said, ‘that’s already the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history. The rematch is gonna be even bigger. There’s gonna be plenty of money involved.’ But Khabib’s fighting Tony in April,” Bisping mentioned as a potential hindrance to Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor II. “After that is Ramadan. So he’s gonna fast, he’s gonna take some time off.”
He mentioned that it's going to be a long wait for Conor McGregor, especially since he said that he wanted to fight multiple times this year. He also explained why McGregor wants nothing to do with Welterweights Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman.
In the meanwhile, he thinks that the Irishman should settle an old score.
“That’s gonna be too long I think for Conor to wait,” Bisping continued while speaking on Conor McGregor’s next bout. “So therefore, he spoke about Nate Diaz. He said, ‘where you at Nathan?’ Because he doesn’t want to fight Masvidal and I’m not surprised he’s not calling out Masvidal. I’m not being disrespectful. The guy’s bigger and he’s on fire."
"He doesn’t really want to fight Kamaru Usman. Kamaru Usman is Khabib but just twice as big pretty much. The fight is Khabib but he can’t do it yet, so in the meantime pick off Nate Diaz. And I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way.”
When looking at the current scenario, a trilogy fight to conclude the rivalry against Nate Diaz would be an ideal choice. It's a high risk-high reward fight for Conor McGregor but one that can benefit him in a big way.
The other logical choice, of course, would be to face Justin Gaethje - the man who many believe is the rightful next-in-line contender for a Lightweight Championship opportunity. If McGregor beats him, it would justify another title shot.
