Home Life White explains why McGregor fights at 170, potential title shot at 155
White explains why McGregor fights at 170, potential title shot at 155
Parviz Iskenderov
UFC President Dana White recently said that the lightweight championship rematch between former titleholder Conor McGregor and the reigning king Khabib Nurmagomedov can be "down the line pretty soon". All they need to do is to win their scheduled respective bouts against Donald Cerrone and Tony Ferguson.
Well, the fight contracts need to be signed too.
At the press conference in Russia, Nurmagomedov said he would think of the rematch against McGregor, only if the latter scores a ten-fight win streak.
Fellow-lightweight Justin Gaethje recently called McGregor's potential title shot "a crock of sh*t".
In a new interview with ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Dana White explained the potential McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov rematch, as well as why "The Notorious" gets a 155-pound title shot, if his next fight is at 170.
"C'mon guys, look what Conor's done over the last however many years," White said. "Then he loses to Khabib in a fight that was – when you talk about bad blood – it's like the next level of bad blood."
"Gaethje was on his way up, too," UFC president addressed the comment from ranked No.4 lightweight. "We've offered Gaethje a lot of fights that Gaethje hasn't taken, either."
"So Conor's in line next for this [title] fight if he beats 'Cowboy.'"
Okamoto suggested that the McGregor vs. Cerrone bout might look "as like this is a 155 fight, but there is not cutting weight".
"100%. It's exactly what it is," White confirmed. "It's a 155 fight that they are not cutting weight for. And realistically, when Conor said I want to do this fight at 170, and then gave me the reason that he wanted to do it, I was like 'yeah, there is no way Cowboy is going to argue with that'. Why cut the weight if they both agree they don't want to cut weight."
A good question might be whether Cerrone gets a shot at 155-pound title if he beats McGregor.
In addition, Tony Ferugson, who challenges Nurmagomedov for his lightweight belt on April 19 (AEDT) in Brooklyn, New York, most likely has his own plan for the division's kingpin.
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Parviz Iskenderov is a Muay Thai fighter and World Kickboxing Network International coordinator. He is a former National champion of Belarus, finalist of IFMA European Cup and former WKN Australian super lightweight title challenger.