In one of the biggest combat sport events of the year, Conor McGregor returned to the lightweight division to face Dustin Poirier.
Fans and bookies alike were expecting Conor to show his class and put away Poirier, just like he did to Donald Cerrone just over a year ago. This is not what we got at all. McGregor showed snippets of his signature skill, but was ultimately knocked out for the very first time in his MMA career. Que global shock.
Two and a half minutes into the second round, a flurry of clean hooks from Poirier ultimately put McGregor on his back and the referee had to step in to prevent any further damage. McGregor looked as shocked as everyone else did at home watching, as Poirier did something not many could even imagine happening.
Though in the words of McGregor’s renowned head coach John Kavanagh; “Only those who never stand up, never fall down”. He reached the pinnacle of his fighting career by capturing the UFC Lightweight belt in 2016, and reached the pinnacle of his financial career by boxing Floyd Mayweather in the following year. He has achieved everything a fighter would want to achieve in a career, but he is seemingly not finished yet.
He has had to bounce back from defeats in the past, but none has arguably been as damaging as this one. If the result was the other way round, McGregor would undoubtedly be fighting for the title in his next fight, but that didn’t happen and he will now have to build a tidy streak at 155 pounds to be considered for another shot at gold.
Luckily for McGregor, the UFC lightweight division is as strong as it’s ever been, giving him plenty of options for who he could enter the octagon with next. Some make more sense than others when considering fairness, but the UFC is a business and will make the matchups that financially make the most sense too. Given that McGregor is still considered the star boy of fighting, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw him be given a match-up that someone else in his shoes might not get, a fast-track if you like.
For me, the most sensible move for McGregor right now would be completing his trilogy against Nate Diaz. The score between them is 1-1, and they’re both coming off damaging contender fights, it just makes sense.
Both fighters have admitted it would be nice to complete the trilogy at some point and right now seems like the perfect time. The winner would have a platform to ask for a matchup against a contender ranked in the top four, and the fight itself would be very good viewing for sure. It’s likely bad blood will resurface between the two for the bout, so again it would attract large viewing figures for the company. No one will complain about who we see McGregor face next in the octagon, but this could be the fight to make.
Another two matchups that we could see are lightweight bouts against Tony Ferguson or Rafael Dos Anjos. They respectively sit above and below McGregor on the official UFC rankings, so on paper either of these fights would be a fair match up. Interestingly enough the idea of both bouts has been flirted with in the past. With McGregor previously booked in to fight against Dos Anjos for the lightweight belt, before the Brazilian broke his foot in training which saw it get cancelled. Ferguson has never been booked in against McGregor, but has called him out on several occasions so perhaps now is the time to revisit the idea. With both potential bouts having plenty of history behind them and currently making sense, it would be a safe bet that McGregor will next fight one of these two former champions.
In the past five years, McGregor has fought across three separate weight divisions within the UFC, so it would be no surprise if we saw history repeat itself. Both a return to featherweight or welterweight are viable options, with his nutritionist confirming that he could physically make the drop back down to 145 pounds. Although who he could potentially fight in either division is anyone’s guess, as both are very open at this moment. A fight against Jorge Masvidal would be a dream fight for many fans, but Masvidal might be slightly out of reach due to the fact that he just had a title shot at 170. The option of moving weight classes is probably not the most sensible option, but it certainly is an intriguing one.
Rumours around McGregor making a return to boxing will always be floating around, with various boxers looking to cash in on his stardom. Before the Poirier fight there were reports that if he was victorious over the American that he would have a big money-fight against Manny Pacquaio, though those rumours are now all but gone. With Ryan Garcia seemingly next to face Pacquaio in the ring, it seems as if McGregor will remain a mixed martial artist for now.
As I mentioned earlier, McGregor has now reached the pinnacle of his professional career. He has won everything he set out to win, broke all the records he wanted to break and earned all of the money he wanted to earn.
It wouldn’t be too unrealistic to suggest that maybe McGregor’s next move might be his last. To retire. He would go down as one of the greats in not only MMA and combat sports, but in sport altogether. He brought millions of fans to a sport that struggled to appeal to a mass audience, and became one of the world’s biggest celebrities in the process. It wouldn’t be reflective of his career as a whole to retire on a devastating loss, but retirement is certainly an option for McGregor too.
Based on his post-fight interview, it appeared McGregor was far from finished when it comes to fighting. He seemed eager to get back in there and prove to the many that he still has the skill that shaped his legacy. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to where he goes from here, as he is that unpredictable, though he certainly isn’t short on options when it comes to next opponents. Let’s just hope that the shock knockout inflicted by Poirier isn’t the last we see of the ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor.
By Will Simpson