Photo Courtesy: Andrius Petrucenia
The current Lightweight Champion and former Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor took a big stepping stone in his career when he took on boxing’s best Floyd Mayweather in what many envisioned as the fight of the century. Though many fans believed McGregor to be the one to end Mayweather’s undefeated streak, it was proven false when the boxing king would go on to TKO the UFC star in the tenth round thus increasing his record to 50-0 and showing the world that the sport of boxing and mixed martial arts are not the same style at all.
Once the fight was over and both athletes were interviewed. The obvious question to McGregor was “Will you go back to the UFC?” and his response, “Of course.” However, with so many matchups that he could possibly take, fans can only wonder who he will face upon his return and if he will finally defend his title to prove he is still the best in the world.
Well based on what has been said on Twitter, it seems that two have spoken out to challenge the Irish king and welcome him back to the UFC with a great fight. Undefeated lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov and former Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos have made their voices heard when they tweeted they are ready for a showdown with the champ and prove just like in boxing he is not unstoppable in MMA either.
Both of these top dogs would be perfect matchups for the champion and could possibly give him more of a war than Nate Diaz did in their two bouts. But if one of them did fight him, which one could the UFC choose?
Well, McGregor did state a while back that upon his return when his fight against Mayweather was over he wanted to face Nurmagomedov next and end his undefeated streak and where he wanted to do it was in mother Russia herself. Now, it most likely would not happen in Russia, but it could happen in Las Vegas, Nevada at UFC 219 on December 30 after Nurmagomedov tweeted,
“30 December. UFC 219. Las Vegas, Nevada. Let’s go @ufc @danawhite”
It would make sense since it would give both fighters time to prepare for this epic showdown and all for the fact they both possess their own intense style of combinations with McGregor having great striking with his hands and legs while Nurmagomedov contains well-rounded boxing and wrestling that could surely prove to be a great challenge for McGregor to face. I mean, they both are great at pressuring their opponents and when they get them to play their game then they take the fight to a world-class beating, so it only makes sense to see what they are capable of inflicting upon each other.
Then, of course, dos Anjos has been wanting his crack at McGregor for over a year and a half after he was scheduled to face him at UFC 196 in 2016 but was forced out of the bout with an injury to his ankle. Now, he wants his chance to face the champion after he tweeted,
“If you are not running away from the game, we still have unfinished business! You got lucky that I got hurt #chickenheart.”
That’s right, dos Anjos has made it clear he is ready for the champion and wants to prove that he is not like the other opponents McGregor has faced in his career and well he kind of is nothing like his past opponents. With his aggressive style of Muay Thai and Jiu-jitsu, it would surely be a run for McGregor’s money if he and this animal went at it in what could possibly be a bloodbath fans have been dying to see.
However, dos Anjos is scheduled to face Neil Magny at UFC 215 on September 9, so he must first get through this fight first before he can get to McGregor, though if he does you can be sure to expect him to call McGregor out and even mention the Mayweather fight alongside it.
No matter who is chosen, whether it is Nurmagomedov or dos Anjos or someone else entirely the only thing fans want to see is McGregor back in action inside the octagon of the UFC where he has shown he belongs and looks to stay for years to come.
