Joe Rogan has his opinion on who Conor should face next…
Joe Rogan recently speculated as to who Conor McGregor will face next. While Dana White and the UFC sound certain the next bout to make is a title unification bout with the interim lightweight champ, Rogan doesn’t necessarily feel the same.
While Tony Ferguson’s victory over Kevin Lee at UFC 216 seemed to solidify him as the next red-panty night receiver, things aren’t always as they appear.
Defend or Vacate: Will Conor Face El Cucuy?
Recently on the Joe Rogan Experience, the longtime UFC commentator had this to say regarding Conor facing Tony Ferguson.
“Conor made that post to Tony,” Rogan said. “He made an Instagram post. Grand Theft Auto with him holding a gun, driving a boat. Conor’s smart. He realizes that Tony’s an unusual, eccentric character. Conor’s an unusual, eccentric character, Tony’s an unusual, eccentric character too and Tony has the longest win streak in the UFC’s 155-pound division. He’s the interim champion and he’s the logical fight. He’s a bad motherf**ker, no doubt, and a legitimate champion. . .
“Conor sells like f**king crazy and Conor versus Tony sells because Tony’s a legit threat. Conor versus a legit threat sells, Conor fighting someone sells but Conor versus a legit threat is where it gets interesting.”
Which Fight Will Be the Most Lucrative?
While MMA purists will state Conor needs to defend the lightweight belt against the interim champion, doing so would buck Conor’s trend of always moving on to the bigger and more lucrative fight.
Conor has won 4 championships in his MMA career, and he’s never defended any of them. There is always another championship or accomplishment for him to chase. He won’t simply face Ferguson because it’s what makes sense from a sporting perspective. It has to make the most business sense or Conor won’t do it.
Here’s what Rogan had to say about which fight would be the more financially rewarding one:
“The whole world doesn’t know Tony but the MMA world knows Tony, for sure. But the regular people are the people you really need to get ahold of to buy PPVs. [Nate] is the money, Nate made $4 million bucks over two fights and he don’t give a f**k. He’s like, ‘Pay Me.’
He beat Conor and in the second fight, he arguably had a draw with Conor. He lost a decision based on a couple people’s opinion. Public opinion means a lot and if you went online and asked people who you think won that fight, I bet you would get very close to 50/50 Nate versus Conor. . .
Joe Rogan: Nate Choked Conor the F*** Out
Nate Diaz does have a somewhat weak claim to being in-line for a title shot. Historically, the last fighter to defeat a champion is often given the next title opportunity. Technically, Conor and Nate fought at welterweight, however.
Rogan believes Conor vs. Nate III is the next bout to make. Here is his reasoning:
“Those guys are rivals man and Nate choked him the f**k out in the first fight. That’s always gonna be there. . . The big money would be the Nate Diaz fight even if Nate beat him in the second fight.
“You think you can go to the gas station right now and go, ‘Hey man, who’s Tony Ferguson?’ If you go to the average person and ask them who Nate Diaz is, way more people are gonna know who he is than Tony.”