McGregor has built his brand significantly by blending a caustic fighting style that mimics martial, arts with a combative personality. Despite his reputation in MMA and his destruction of Donald Cerrone in January, the Notorious one announced his retirement for the third time in four years this June claiming there are no exciting match-ups leaving everyone guessing his next move. McGregor has hinted a desire to fight Nick and Nate upon his return to UFC action and has thus been linked with a comeback of his own after news broke about Nick Diaz’ expected return.
McGregor’s star power and dominant performance allows him to choose pretty much whoever he wants to fight when he makes his comeback.
Let’s take a look at potential fights McGregor should have on his return.
Complete Diaz trilogy
Nate Diaz is McGregor’s fierce opponent. McGregor and Diaz have fought twice in 2016, with Diaz winning the first match and McGregor winning the second match. Those fights helped both fighters to establish their brand and propel the UFC.
A fight between Diaz and MacGregor will always be as fun as playing judi slot due to their exiting styles and relentlessness. Diaz is coming off a disappointing loss and if McGregor wants to keep his previous win and validate himself as the lightweight number 1 contender, thrashing Diaz is a way to do so. If McGregor does have a comeback, the fans would love to see him complete the trilogy.
The Best Matchup
The real option for McGregor to fight right now is Justine Gaethje. Justin is currently the only lightweight contender without loss in the last three fights. A fight between McGregor and Gaethje would be a great and exciting fight. Looking at both fighter’s styles and techniques with McGregor’s martial arts technique and Gaethje’s success resulting from dragging his opponents into a war and will be fun to see who wins. McGregor’s greatest asset is the power in his shots, especially the left hand and if Gaethje decides to take on shots as he usually does, he might be on the wrong side of the fight. This is because when someone as lethal and deadly as McGregor hurts you, you very rarely recover. Gaethje on the other hand might try his usual wrestling technique but it might not yield any fruit.
Run it back with Nurmargomedov
It would be nice to try a run it back with Nurmargomedov. There exists a rivalry between the two fighters and a more focused to-training McGregor could do better a second time around. Furthermore, Nurmargomedov dominated their first fight, and getting another win might make it convincing that he stands a chance in a rematch.
However, there are certain obstacles such as the fact that Nurmargomedov has been adamant about the idea of giving McGregor a rematch. Even though, this remains a most likely booking in case McGregor returns to the UFC.
Conclusion
As much as Macgregor ‘retired’ the fans are still waiting for a huge UFC comeback with exciting matchups. Fans have been calling for the Nate trilogy for years and it would be nice to see it happen before the end of 2020. UFC is as exciting and thrilling as the judi slot especially with the notorious one having a couple of matchups.