Conor McGregor yells out to the crowd at the UFC 246 weigh ins. Photo Credit: Reuters
Who should Conor McGregor fight after Michael Chandler bout?
While the highly-anticipated fight between former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor and former Bellator champion Michael Chandler is yet to take place, you may be wondering just how much longer “Mystic Mac” wants to remain active in the fight game.
The 35-year-old Irishman has not competed since he sustained an unfortunate leg injury in his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier in July 2021. Since then, McGregor’s return has been teased on multiple fronts and has been as hard to read as a card shark in a game of poker.
McGregor traveled to Las Vegas earlier this year where he was spotted enjoying casino games, poker and nightlife in the lead up to the Ultimate Fighter season 31. The former champ-champ coached fighters opposite Chandler, and each week’s buildup grew more and more intense as victories piled up in favor of “Iron” Mike’s team.
But when exactly will that Chandler fight happen? It does not look like it will go down in 2023, which makes it even harder to predict who McGregor should fight after that fight.
According to The Independent, “McGregor missed the deadline for re-enrollment into the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) testing pool in July, which made his return this year questionable, given fighters must be in this pool for a minimum of six months before they can fight,”
With a professional MMA record of 22-6 and 35-years of age, McGregor does not have too many fights left in his. Add to that, his multi-millionaire status, combat sports fans will be lucky if we get one or two more fights out of McGregor before he officially calls it quits.
When trying to determine potential matchups for McGregor you have to think about star power. McGregor alone can sell a pay-per-view, but the buy rate would be much higher given the fact he has a dance partner with name recognition.
Let’s just say McGregor does return to lightweight (155-pounds)…. there are only a handful of names that make sense.
Former champion Charles Oliveira (34-9) is a likely contender, but right now “Do Bronx” is currently ranked as the number one contender to the title. McGregor isn’t even ranked at this point. Would Oliveira pass on a title shot for a money fight? Possibly.
Dustin Poirier (29-8) and McGregor definitely have history and a fourth fight could be on the horizon given that the Irishman broke his leg in their trilogy bout. But is it the fight that fans want to see?
Justin Gaethje (25-4) is arguably the best name on the list of lightweights. The two men have never fought and Gaethje has never been in a boring fight. He would love to stand and bang with McGregor and it is a fight that fans could really get behind.
Gaethje and McGregor have had a war of words too which can help sell the fight.
“It makes perfect sense,” Gaethje said of McGregor fighting Chandler. “That man only fights people I beat. So what else?”
Of course, when McGregor returned from his layoff after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov, many thought he would face Gaethje. But, he ended up fighting Donald Cerrone who was coming off a loss to Gaethje and now he isn’t surprised the Irishman is fighting Chandler, who is also someone he beat.
At this point, the only other ranked lightweight that might make sense is former champion Rafael dos Anjos (32-15) as both he and McGregor was once slated to fight. That fight ultimately fell through and might not make sense at this point in their careers, but it is possibility, nonetheless.
