Will Conor McGregor Ever Win Another UFC Title?

Conor McGregor has been stripped of his UFC lightweight championship and it appears it will be up for grabs at UFC 223 in April.

Late last year the UFC confirmed the long-awaited matchup between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov as the main event for UFC 223.

They have finalized this matchup three times before, but due to some sort of MMA curse, it always ended up being canceled. So excuse us when we say, we’ll believe it when we see it.

That exact feeling of caution is probably being felt by UFC President Dana White who, after announcing that he was not only stripping Conor McGregor of his lightweight title for inactivity, mentioned that the UFC 223 main event would be for the legitimate lightweight gold. In a recent interview with the LA Times, White said, “That’s exactly right: As soon as one punch is thrown, it’s on for the full title and it’s only fair. They’ve both worked their way up to No. 1 and No. 2. They deserve a shot.”

Notice the keywords, “as soon as the first punch is thrown.”

“Conor does want the belt, he does want to be the champion, but he doesn’t want to defend it. I’d love to see him fight the winner of Ferguson-Khabib next.” – Dana White

It’s the first punch that has been thrown at McGregor from the UFC as well. Many felt the threats of stripping the title were negotiation tactics meant to hurry McGregor up and force him to make a decision about his fighting career. But it appears the brash Irishman will fight when he’s good and ready.

So now that the former 2x champ no longer holds a title will he ever win one again? We set the odds on McGregor’s future championship aspirations.

CONOR MCGREGOR TITLE ODDS

Conor McGregor banked a lot of coin after his big boxing match last year, and so far he’s been sitting at home Instagramming his life away and even having some fun with a couple of his cage fighting colleagues.

Kid, you bounced. Leave it.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 5, 2018

You are a sad bastard, mate.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 5, 2018

“Notorious” has made it evident that he’ll fight in a UFC Octagon again and, according to rumors, it could happen not once but twice in 2018. White did go on to say that when his money train does decide to return to the station that he would prefer to see McGregor take on the new lightweight champ that is crowned at UFC 223.

“Conor does want the belt, he does want to be the champion, but he doesn’t want to defend it. I’d love to see him fight the winner of Ferguson-Khabib next.”

That would be the ideal matchup but that doesn’t mean the new multimillionaire is going to win his title back.

Having this long of a layoff hurts a lot of athletes, and getting into a cage with the likes of a Ferguson or a wrestling machine like Nurmagomedov wouldn’t be a guaranteed win at the best of times. They are both hugely dangerous opponents for a return fight. Yet there is so much money that could be made there including a stadium in Ireland or even potentially a stadium in Russia if it’s Khabib who is crowned.

At this point, McGregor is probably more interested in the money fight over reclaiming a title. He’ll always refer to himself as a two-divisional champ because those titles were not taken through competition; something his fans will go along with. When it comes to money fight options, the most glaring and obvious one to make is a trilogy bout with Nate Diaz.

There is also the idea of fighting for the featherweight title currently being held by Max Holloway, an opponent that McGregor has beaten in the past. That said, cutting down to 145 pounds again probably doesn’t rank too high on McGregor’s to-do list.

Don’t even get us started on the idea of Mayweather vs. McGregor 2 in the UFC under MMA rules. It appears that boat sailed away when someone spoke common sense into Floyd’s ear.

At 29-years-old and sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars, it’s great to hear that McGregor still has that hunger to fight again. Given the long layoff and the dangerous potential opponents, the odds of him of reclaiming UFC gold are favorable but not a sure thing.