The next step for Irish fighting is going to be a fascinating one.
Given the unprecedented drawing power of Conor McGregor, opponents are lining up to get a portion of the guaranteed pay-per-view revenue that comes with sharing the bill with ‘The Notorious’.
McGregor’s pull is such that even the UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson, had the Dubliner’s name on his lips after his most recent defence at the weekend, although the call-out was made with tongue in cheek.
The retired boxing great Floyd Mayweather, having initially been mentioned alongside McGregor as no more than a pipe dream of fight fans, is suddenly looking like the most likely next opponent for McGregor.
Negotiations between Mayweather’s team and the UFC are reportedly ongoing while there is no shortage of options waiting for McGregor in the Octagon either.
Tony Ferguson, Nate Diaz, Tyron Woodley, Georges St-Pierre, Max Holloway, Jose Aldo and Edson Barboza are just a handful of names who would bite UFC president Dana White’s hand off of for the next red panty night.
And, whoever may be standing opposite ‘The Notorious’ in his next outing is almost irrelevant because McGregor could sell a shadow-boxing exhibition.
But McGregor has insisted that an opponent has been selected and that a fight announcement is imminent.
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Posting on Instagram about the launch of his online training programme, McGregor wrote:
“Join me in the preparation of my next fight being announced very soon!”
Suggestions have been made that McGregor vs. Mayweather could take place in Las Vegas in September as a summer contest would be too early for McGregor, who is taking time off so that he can be with his partner for the arrival of the couple’s firstborn child.
McGregor’s son is due in a matter of weeks and once he settles into fatherhood, we can expect him to immerse himself in fight camp again.
Maybe. If you can work out what this means.
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McGregor might actually be beaten to the boxing ring by British star Jim Manuwa but it’d hardly have the same pull as the most marketable man in fighting gunning for the most immovable man in boxing.
