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‘The Notorious’ Was Meant to Release Statement Regarding His Future at UFC 223…

Conor McGregor has made life difficult for himself. That’s according to former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. ‘The Count’ spoke about the UFC 223 media bus attack on his Believe You Me Podcast with co-host Luis J. Gomez.

McGregor, along with 20 of his minions, attacked a bus carrying arch-nemesis Khabib Nurmagamedov from Brooklyn’s Barclay Center, back to the hotel where the red corner fighters were staying. According to Bisping, before the chaos happened, McGregor was meant to announce his future at UFC 223.

Of course, being stuck in prison cell will kind of mess up your plans. However, it does raise the tantalizing question: what was McGregor’s announcement? The fact that he was set to announce it at UFC 223 suggests that it was going to be about his next fight. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the three most likely opponents that he could face.

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Khabib Time

Let’s be realistic. McGregor has backed himself into a corner. As it stands, after his crazy UFC 223 antics, the only opponent he can fight and maintain any credibility is Khabib Nurmagamedov. Otherwise, what was the point?

The bad blood is there and the UFC is clearly happy to let them fight. They have used the attack footage in a UFC Embedded video after all. Nurmagamedov is now the UFC lightweight champion after McGregor was stripped. Who wouldn’t like to see them duke it out to see who is the real king of the lightweight division?

Stylistically it is also very interesting. McGregor has the one punch power to send Khabib to sleep. The Russian has demonstrated flaws in his stand-up game in the past. However, it could also be a case of Khabib brutalizing McGregor, and giving him the worst night of his life.

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Diaz Part III

Of course, there is the whole Nate Diaz Trilogy story waiting for its resolution. Nate won by submission in their first fight, while Conor got the decision in their second. It’s clear that the Irishman would love to get a dominant win to prove once and for all he’s the better fighter.

However, it remains to be seen if the time is right. Sure, fans have recently voted McGregor vs Diaz II to be the greatest UFC fight of all time. But their rivalry has gone off the boil thanks to both men being inactive and the whole Nurmagamedov story escalating.

It remains possible though. Arguably now that McGregor is no longer lightweight champion he is freer to take the fights he actually wants. Diaz is set to return this year as well. With $100 million in McGregor’s bank account, maybe reclaiming his title might not be a priority anymore.

Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports.

Mayweather Madness

It has to be said… Floyd Mayweather was another possibility. However, it’s unlikely that the UFC announcement was about him because of Dana White’s well-documented feud with Showtime. But there’s no doubt that the unbeaten 41-year-old unbeaten boxer would be the most lucrative opponent McGregor could face. Again.

No matter what McGregor does, we won’t be able to take our eyes off of it. Fingers crossed that whatever the UFC 223 announcement was meant to be, the next one will confirm Conor vs Khabib in Russia. Give the fans what they want.

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