People laughed when rumours broke that Conor McGregor could fight welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 200.
The Irishman might have been the featherweight king stepping up to fight the lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos – but Lawler is a whole different ball game at 25lbs heavier.
Then his coach John Kavanagh started saying they had their eyes on the strap and people started taking it more seriously.
But with Dos Anjos out of UFC 196 and McGregor now taking on Nate Diaz at welterweight it suddenly looks like it could actually happen.
Now McGregor himself has directly address talk that he could be jumping up two weight classes to challenge Lawler for the title.
“That’s there, he told MMA Fighting at the UFC 196 open workouts. “I mean, why not? That’s probably the leading option.”
“I like Robbie. I won’t say a bad word about Robbie. He fights with his heart.
“He’s been around the game so, so long. But if we fought, I would beat Robbie. I’m too fast for him. The size difference is not anything. I’ve stood beside him. I’ve seen him.
“I respect (Lawler) as a champion, as a man who drifted off, came back, stayed on it and rose up and became the welterweight champion.
“We’ll see how that goes. That is an appealing one for me, the welterweight (title). All the belts. We’ll see.”
It sounds like McGregor is pretty p*ssed off with RDA for pulling out of the fight with what he calls a ‘bruised foot’.
Now it seems any hopes of the Brazilian getting his ‘red panties night’ with the Irishman are firmly on a back burner with the welterweight belt firmly in his sights.
“I mean, dos Anjos is an absolute bum, I swear,” McGregor said. “And he’s still complaining. How do you pull out of a fight with a bruised foot and he’s still talking all this sh*t and his team is talking all this sh*t? Man up and fight. C’mon. I don’t know what to say to this guy.”
Tyron Woodley has been promised a shot at the welterweight strap next.
But top ranked 170lber Matt Brown told Fox Sports that McGregor is the obvious choice given his pulling power and ability to break PPV records.
“I can understand them giving it to Conor,” he said. “He’s the money man. That makes sense. (Tyron) Woodley, he shouldn’t even be getting a title shot.
“This guy, he beat Kelvin Gastelum and he didn’t even beat Carlos Condit. His last fight was Gastelum. That’s a fucking joke. He’s just a business man. Just trying to play the business and not actually fight and earn it like other people are.
“If Conor beats Nate, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to fight for whatever title he wants. He’s the money man.”
“Floyd (Mayweather) could go fight any weight he wants and fight any guy he wants and Conor’s in the same boat. That’s where the money is. There’s no reason not to give him the money fights. I guarantee (Robbie) Lawler would rather fight Conor and break out the red panties.”
