Featherweight Conor McGregor's victory over Dustin Poirier at UFC 178 may have earned him a chance to fight the promotion's featherweight champion.
UFC President Dana White said the possible title fight could take place after current champion Jose Aldo defends his title against Chad Mendes at UFC 179 on Oct. 25th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to MMA Fighting.
McGregor's win over Poirier has served as an impressive feat for the Irish featherweight.
"Here's the thing: If you wanna go down the list, every one of those guys has fought Jose Aldo already," White said. "Conor hasn't. So who do you line up next for the champ other than Conor? Everybody else has fought him."
The contenders White referred to include Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson, Ricardo Lamas, Chang Sung Jung, MMA Fighting reported.
If Aldo wins his fight with Mendes and he is challenged by McGregor, it would be the first time that the two fighters will compete against each other.
McGregor currently holds a 16-2 record in MMA, having won all of his four fights in the UFC. Aldo is 24-1 in MMA and 6-0 in the UFC, and is ranked No.1 on the MMA featherweight rankings on USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie. Mendes is currently 16-1 in MMA, having won seven out of his eight fights in the UFC, MMAjunkie reported.
The announcement of McGregor's possible title shot follows just days after he tweeted that he will fight Diego Sanchez at UFC 180 as Norman Parke's replacement. UFC officials later clarified that this fight will not take place.
"So (UFC CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta) and I went to dinner with him last night, and he said he wants to fight Diego Sanchez in Mexico at 155," White said. "I said, 'You're nuts. No way, we'll get you a fight. You'll be fighting soon though.' The kid just wants to fight. He said him and Diego have been talking back and forth for a while and he wanted to fight him. We basically told him no, and he went out and put that on Twitter anyway."
