Conor McGregor has no shortage of options when it comes to his next fight.
‘The Notorious’ has made no secret of the fact that he will be stepping away from the Octagon for at least six months as he waits to become a father for the first time.
But in his athletic prime, with two belts around his waist and an unparalleled fanbase, McGregor will almost certainly be back wrapping his terrifying left hand before we know it.
As of now, there are a number of unknowns about the Irishman’s return in relation to what weight class he will choose to compete at when he comes back.
The option of a rematch with featherweight rival Jose Aldo remains on the table. So too does the realisation of a trilogy with Nate Diaz, while lightweight title defences against Khabib Nurmagomedov or Tony Ferguson would not be disputed by fans.
McGregor’s next step will be a fascinating one and even he probably doesn’t know who will be standing opposite him in the Octagon the next time Bruce Buffer bellows “From Dublin, Ireland!”
But everyone has an opinion and one individual whose take is worth listening to is Eddie Alvarez, the man who last shared the mat with ‘The Notorious’.
While speaking to Chael Sonnen this week, Alvarez offered his insight into what McGregor does next.
“Tony Ferguson is not a pay-per-view draw, nobody cares about that,” Alvarez said.
“I don’t know how many people care about Khabib.
“People would only really care if he fought for a third title. That would be fun. A lot of people would tune in for that if he fought for the 170lbs belt.
“And what it does is he gives up his 145lbs title, he still has the 155lbs one because he doesn’t have to defend that immediately.
“And he gets the chance to make more history and not really have to fight anyone in the division to build his way through it.
“But I don’t know if the UFC will allow him to do that.”
All indications from the UFC is that they’re going to go with a rematch between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson for the welterweight title but given the break that McGregor intends to take, who’s to say that he doesn’t walk straight back into a title shot against the winner of that.
He seemingly does what he wants at this stage after all.
