This is the forum where the people wanted Frankie Edgar to face conor, as if he were the ultimate challenge for mcgregor.
Khabib is a great fighter a top one but his soft chin and lack of striking game will play against him.
I highly doubt that fighters like Frankie or khabib can beat him, it could happen but tbh i donât think so.
Is it such a coincedence McGregor never fought Edgar though 
? Especially since he handpicks his opponents nowadays.
But with his speed and precision he can KO everybody indeed.
This fight is brutal to rewatch.
âNow, Iâm going to give you my full opinion. I think the second best 145er is Max Holloway, in my opinion. And I think the second best 155er is Nate Diaz,â Kavanagh explained. âThatâs my opinion.â
I think they are going to try to do Khabib vs Ferguson in Russia. And do the trilogy when McGregor comes back,
Have to respect John Kavanaghâs opinion.
Personally think they need to make a decision on the featherweight belt now. Either defend it next or relinquish it. Above all else thatâs the immediate decision they should be making. Top of the agenda.
At the moment there are multiple deserving contenders for the belts. At featherweight itâs Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, in that order. At lightweight you have Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov effectively equal.
Yet the most likely fights seem to be Nate Diaz at lightweight, Tyron Woodley at welterweight or even a pantomime boxing showdown with Floyd Mayweather. They continuously make a mockery of the rankings and their fighters by opting for these McGregor showpiece events when there are titles to defend and divisions to progress.
Conor McGregor himself seemingly wants to fight UFC and WME-IMG over shares in the company.
If I had to predict what announcements will go down over the next few months, Iâd sayâŠ
Conor McGregor relinquishes his featherweight championship and agrees to a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz for the lightweight title. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will fight for the undisputed number one contenders position to face the winner of McGregor-Diaz III.
As holder of the interim featherweight belt, Jose Aldo is crowned the official featherweight champion and fights the winner of Max Holloway vs Anthony Pettis for his title.
Why? You could argue Nate Diaz is a gatekeeper at lightweight. He hasnât lost 8 times for nothing in that division.
Because McGregor losses his reach advantage against Holloway doesnât mean he is the 2nd best featherweight. Especially since Aldo just beat the breaks off of one of the top contenders in that division again.
I do think things will play out like youâre saying. Khabib vs Ferguson means one less contender for McGregor to worry about.
I agree with you, but seeing as John Kavanagh has guided a fighter from Dublin to the pinnacle of the whole game and remained honest throughout, I put some stock in his views. I watched his recent interview with Ariel Helwani that youâve quoted.
Personally disagree with his assessment of Nate Diaz. As you point out about Max Holloway, Conor McGregor has had issues with longer opponents posing equal or more reach. Thatâs why he has had to scientifically develop his game since the first fight against Nate Diaz. Kavanagh openly views him as the biggest challenge of McGregorâs career and states heâs reasonably confident that no one will ever pose as big a threat to McGregor again.
Yet despite how difficult an opponent Nate has been for McGregor, he was light work for Dos Anjos and many others feel he would be light work for them too. Thing is if Dos Anjos fights McGregor now, Iâd have McGregor as a huge favourite just because of how dominant he is with maintaining his reach. Dos Anjos has fallen well behind in the pecking order given his two defeats in a row to Alvarez and Ferguson though.
Khabib recently scoffed at the fact that weâre talking about Nate Diaz at this level, whoâs lost so many times. He feels McGregor and the UFC brass are picking easier fights for Conor instead of giving opportunities to the âreal contendersâ. Itâs somewhat hard to argue with that, despite how dominant Conor was on Saturday.
And on that fight, it must be said that Eddie Alvarez let down a huge number of MMA purists and sent McGregorâs name so far out of proportion itâs now going to be near impossible for anyone good enough to get a shot at him for the belts.
Its difficult to tell whether Nate Diaz would defeat the likes of Ferguson and Khabib, but they sure feel they would handle Diaz comfortably.
I think the overall reality is, when weâre talking about opponents for McGregor, weâre not talking about who the best fighters are overall. Weâre talking about who has the attributes to nullify McGregorâs style the most to make it a close fight.
As great as Aldo, Khabib and Ferguson are, they have a huge task getting inside the reach without being absolutely caught clean with that counter left. Nate managed to do Conor for reach, durability and stamina. There are some doubts the remaining contenders can do the same, except perhaps Holloway.
Ferguson is about the same size/height of Diaz and can take a beat also his ground game is outstanding.
Khabib is like a bigger Frankie Edgar, a great fighter with warrior spirit but can be tkoâd easily by a guy like mcgregor.
I think nate and ferguson are the best fit/opponents for Conor . Both are bigger, can take a few punches and remain standing and have great ground game.
Khabib and frankie are a one trick horses.
This is still something thatâs need to be proven. Iâm not saying McGregor wonât knock him out, but Khabibâs boxing has been average his whole career and nobody has been able to take him out. Yet.
If anything Nate Diaz is one dimensional. He canât do nothing with his legs, he is so boxing heavy and stiff that with a good complete striking plan, like RDA had or Conor himself in the 2nd, people are going to decision him. McGregor vs Diaz III will be the same as McGregor vs Diaz II. Especially since people canât outbox McGregor.
Same as with aldo, 10 years undefeated and lost tkoâd easily by conor.
The Diaz brothers are at a whole different level. They can take punches, they tkoâd many top level figthers and their ground game is probably one of the best in the ufc.
I can only think of ferguson when comes to a guy that has more height/reach, takes punishment and keeps moving forward, has great wrestling and a high level bjj.
khabibâs shin is too soft for a guy like mcgregor. If he gets hit by the shots he received from johnson but from mcgregor he will get tkoâd.
Thatâs why the Diaz brothers have so many losses between them. Being able to take punishment doesnât make you great.
And their approach or lack of to dealing with leg kicks will forever hold them back.
, this is great when you read it in Khabibâs voice.
I get why hes doing it but calling McGregor chicken is just ridiculous really. Khabib has been on his radar for all of about ten seconds. Hes said hes taking a break to focus on his missus while shes pregnant so the real question is whether or not Khabib is prepared to wait.
Whatever heâs doing heâs generating hype for a fight not so long ago many people didnât want to see. He & his dad have said heâs willing to fight Ferguson to be crowned undisputed #1 contender.
Khabib vs ferguson would be such a great fight.
I hope it happens.
But they have what it takes to beat connor, for me nate won both fights.
You are right take punches does not make you great, that is why i donât consider Frankie edgar that great.
To beat conor you must be able to take his punches and have some advantage as he said: like height/reach Plus a great level of wrestling/jiujitsu.
Iâm not saying Frankie or Khabib canât beat conor because it could happen, but i just donât see them having what it takes. Khabib looks awful in his striking and johnson exposed his soft shin, Frankie has size disadvantage and has not been that great lately and he gets punished way too much which with conor with reach advantage is a suicide.
Only fighter IMO that is more well rounded is ferguson, great striker and wrestler, his bjj is crazy he is a showman when comes to submissions and has a similar size/frame as Diaz which will make conor struggle.
José Aldo is now the featherweight Champion, petis will fight holloway to be the next on the line.
looooool deceived