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In his prime, Conor McGregor ruled the Lightweight and Featherweight divisions of the UFC. The Irishman, however, then went on to fight Nate Diaz in a series of flights at Welterweight before returning to the Lightweight division only to get humbled by Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Despite his loss to the reigning Lightweight Champion, McGregor still sits at No.3 in the Lightweight division while he prepares for a Welterweight fight against Donald Cerrone.
No. ranked Lightweight, Paul Felder, is not too pleased with Conor McGregor clogging up the 155-pound division.
Felder told MMA Junkie that he would like to see McGregor out of the rankings, or at the very least, knocked down a few spots which would enable himself and other active Lightweight to climb the ladder towards a potential title shot.
McGregor is pushing for fights at 170 lb even after he makes his Octagon return against Cowboy in January next year. The Notorious One has expressed his interest in a big-money fight against Jorge Masvidal, who is also a top-ranked Welterweight.
Felder believes that the best way forward is for McGregor to concede his spot in the Lightweight rankings.
“That’s what I’m hoping, because he wants to fight at 170 and he’s hunting that Jorge Masvidal fight, then let him do that. Take him lower down the rankings so that guys like me and Dan Hooker, who are putting in work at 155 pounds, guys like Justin Gaethje, get him out of our way and let us fight for the belt in those big fights. If he’s still in the rankings in the top three, top five, guys are going to want to fight him, guys are going to want to call out. They’re going to wait to try to fight him and it just mixes things up. It muddies stuff up for us.” H/t Credit: MMA Junkie
Paul Felder will take on Dan Hooker in the main event of UFC Auckland on February 22nd, 2020. The Irish Dragon has lost just once in his last six fights and a win against Hooker would take him one step closer to the No.1 contender's spot.
