He’s got his power back after his win against Diaz…
The rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz was a sticky situation for the Dubliner, if he’d lost, his star power may have taken a bit of a battering and the hype train may very well have been derailed.
He doubled down and rolled a pair of sixes emerging the victor in a fight which has enhanced his reputation as a fighter in the eyes of many people around the world.
But what’s next for The Notorious? If Dana White is to believed, he must defend his featherweight crown against Jose Aldo or be forced to relinquish it, but it wouldn’t be like the UFC President to make a statement then have a sudden 180 when the winds change.
Image via Steve Marcus/Getty ImagesSpeaking on White’s comments, McGregor said: “I don’t think they’ll do that. How can they do that? If they want to give my belt to the guy I KO’d in 13 seconds and bury that division in the prelims or the Fight Pass stuff cause that’s what they’re going to do.”
From his comments at the post fight press conference, it’s clear that a return to featherweight isn’t very appealing to McGregor, he talked down a possible rematch with Aldo and revealed he’s other options outside the UFC.
“I’m the 145-pound champion. The interim 145-pound champion is a man that I KO’d in 13-seconds,” McGregor said. “I’ve got to figure out what’s next but right now, I don’t know what’s next. There’s many things in the pipeline so sit tight.”
“There’s a lot of options. Some might not be this sport. I’m in a beautiful, beautiful position right now,” McGregor said. “And that was built through hard work and I’m going to capitalize on that.”
His instant classic with Nate Diaz has returned some of his bargaining power and there’s the little matter of a trilogy fight with Diaz to consider, although that looks more likely to be at least a year away.
It could be a move into films, emulating Ronda Rousey, or maybe, just maybe, his WWE trash talk has been building up to something big…
