Should Conor McGregor lose at UFC 264, what is next?

Conor McGregor is currently slated to go against Dustin Poirier for the third time at UFC 264 on July 10, in what may be one of the most important fights of his career.

Many have speculated that after getting knocked out by Poirier in their last fight back in January that McGregor is not the same fighter he used to be, or has lost a step.

Assuming Conor McGregor does lose for the second time to Dustin Poirier to put an end to their rivalry, what would be next for the UFC superstar? Let's take a look at a three options he could have if he was to lose at UFC 264.

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#3 Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz

Conor McGregor is all too familiar with Nate Diaz. The pair first met in March 2016 at UFC 196. Nate Diaz served as the replacement for Rafael dos Anjos, who at the time was the UFC lightweight champion that McGregor was targeting to fight. After Dos Anjos withdrew through injury, it was then that Nate Diaz was named the replacement for him.

What many speculated would be an easy fight to win despite it being at welterweight, where at the time McGregor hadn't fought before, ended up providing us with one of the biggest shocks in UFC history when Diaz submitted McGregor in the second round of the fight.

The rematch was then immediately made, once again at welterweight, for August 2016 at UFC 202, where McGregor avenged his loss with a tight decision victory.

Right away fans expected a third fight between the two but it's yet to come to fruition despite the first two bouts being two of the highest grossing in UFC history. Since then, both Diaz and McGregor have been in a war of words and fans have continued asking for the fight to be made.

With Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier having their third fight, there should be no reason why the UFC can't finally book another trilogy matchup, considering both McGregor and Diaz will have lost two in a row if Poirier comes out with a win on July 10.

#2 Conor McGregor vs. Tony Ferguson

Assuming Conor McGregor loses at UFC 264 and still has aspirations of fighting for his place in the lightweight division, then a fight with Tony Ferguson checks off everything that Conor McGregor would be needing at the time.

Tony Ferguson is currently ranked sixth in the 155-pound division and McGregor is currently fifth-ranked. Ferguson is riding a three-fight losing streak after his historic 12-fight winning streak was halted by Justin Gaethje last year..

A loss for Conor McGregor against Poirier in July would mark his second straight loss and at that point, would leave him with just one win from his four fights since winning the UFC lightweight title back in 2016.

In 2017, Ferguson was at the time mentioned as part of the famed 'three headed monster' that the UFC had at lightweight, with Tony Ferguson having won the interim title, Khabib Nurmagomedov dominating his way to the top and Conor McGregor as the champion who was inactive all year because he went to box Floyd Mayweather.

Fast forward to 2021 and Khabib is now retired and both Ferguson and McGregor are looking to regain momentum with a high profile win, so why not pair the two up and we'll get to really see who still has some fight left in them.

#1 Conor McGregor vs Jorge Masvidal

Jorge Masvidal and Conor McGregor have never crossed paths before but this fight is one of those matchups that doesn't have much of a story behind it, yet we crave it as fans simply because of the personalities and fighting styles of both men.

McGregor and Masvidal are arguably the two biggest stars in the promotion for good reason. With McGregor, we saw the Irishman become double-champ with the featherweight and lightweight titles, go to boxing to fight one of the biggest stars in history and have memorable feuds with Dustin Poirier, Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Meanwhile, Masvidal had the year of his career in 2019 by knocking out title contender Darren Till, securing a viral 5 second knockout of Ben Askren and fighting for the new BMF belt in a fun fight against Nate Diaz, all while McGregor had seemingly "retired from MMA."

Since then, both fighters have been on their own respective quest for gold in their own divisions, with, as mentioned earlier, Conor McGregor challenging Poirier in what would seem to be a title eliminator for the right to fight UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.

In comparison, Masvidal has lost his last two fights against Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title. Should McGregor come out with a loss against Poirier, it's the perfect time for the UFC to book this fight. It's a no-brainer as the money would be huge, the build-up would be excellent and the fight would be a fun battle between two knockout artists. Even putting the 'BMF' belt up for grabs to elevate the stakes would add even more excitement.