VIDEO | UFC stars discuss who they think can beat Conor McGregor
Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC 205, Conor McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight championship. At the time, McGregor also owned the organization’s featherweight crown, which made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously.
Though the UFC has since ended McGregor’s reign as featherweight champ, the significance of his accomplishment cannot be understated. Love him or hate him, there is no denying his status as a history-maker, a record-breaker and one hell of a fighter. Really, it’s becoming more and more difficult to say who – other than Nate Diaz – is capable of giving the Irish star a run for his money inside the UFC’s Octagon.
In the buildup to the UFC’s latest trip to Brazil, which surrounded an exciting UFC Fight Night 100 card, the folks over at MMAFighting.com attempted to shed some light on that question by asking some of the card’s fighters who they thought could defeat McGregor.
Fighters questioned in this interesting video include rising welterweight Kamaru Usman, former strawweight title challenger Claudia Gadelha, top-ranked light heavyweight Ryan Bader, Brazilian legend Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, former middleweight title challenger Thales Leites, and dangerous bantamweight prospect Thomas Almeida.
When asked who they thought could beat McGregor, the answers these fighters produced ranged from Khabib Nurmagomedov, to Jose Aldo, to Michael Johnson, to Tony Ferguson, to a somewhat surprising nobody.
Watch the full video at the top of this article.
Having made history as the UFC’s first simultaneous two-division champion, McGregor is now taking some time off to father his first child with his long-time girlfriend Dee Devlin. When he returns to action, his matchup possibilities include Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson, Nate Diaz, and even welterweight champ Tyron Woodley. Now that he’s been stripped of the featherweight belt, however, it seems unlikely that he returns to the division. As such, a rematch with Jose Aldo does not seem particularly likely at this juncture.
Which current UFC fighters do you think are capable of defeating Conor McGregor? Sound off, PENN Nation!
Topics:
Conor McGregor Jose Aldo Khabib Nurmagomedov