Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz faced off at the UFC 196 press conference Thursday and almost brawled right then and there two days before their scheduled fight. Needless to say, these two guys don't like each other very much, and this fight should be very entertaining despite the fact that it is not a title fight.
McGregor is supremely confident that he will beat Diaz on Saturday (no surprise there) and already has a request for his next fight. McGregor has plenty of options considering he is the current featherweight champion and is set to fight Diaz at welterweight. "The Notorious" could defend his featherweight title next, he could go for the lightweight championship, which he was scheduled to do before Rafael Dos Anjos pulled out, or he could stay at welterweight.
McGregor has even said that he is interested in a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, but realistically, he wants his next fight to be for the welterweight championship against Robbie Lawler. Lawler is the current champion in the division after taking the belt in December 2014 and defending it successfully twice. Overall, Lawler has won his last five fights and would represent McGregor's biggest challenge yet.
First things first, though, McGregor will have to get through Diaz, as UFC 196 will mark his first fight ever at the welterweight level. McGregor comes into this fight as the heavy favorite, but it won't be easy for him considering he is used to fighting at 145 pounds, while this fight will be at 170 pounds. The 27-year-old Irishman was scheduled to move up to 155 pounds for this fight anyway, but he still had to make a massive weight jump in just two weeks. Diaz is also not a natural welterweight, as he has spent most of his time in the lightweight division before recently moving up a weight class.
As for McGregor's request to fight Lawler after his bout with Diaz, UFC president Dana White said that he would be open to the idea, saying, "Conor is tough to deny these days." White will basically leave the decision up to McGregor himself, as he is a versatile fighter now that is probably the UFC's biggest star. White said he is "open to whatever he is considering doing," and at the moment, that seems to be a fight with Lawler.
This may all be predicated on McGregor defeating Diaz Saturday night, as he has to prove that he can win at the welterweight level before getting a title shot. Either way, though, McGregor is clearly up to any challenge presented to him. It is unprecedented for a fighter to move up weight classes as much as McGregor has, so if he can get a shot against Lawler, that would definitely be worth watching.
