Monday 22 August 2016 18:34, UK
UFC sensation Conor McGregor is the reigning featherweight champion but has options at lightweight and welterweight. What will his next move be?
Featherweight
It seems a lifetime ago, yet it was only in December that McGregor climbed to the top of the UFC tree by winning the 145lbs world championship. Flattening Jose Aldo (26-2), the only previous man to hold that gold, inside 13 seconds after months of pre-fight baiting remains McGregor's finest moment even after putting Diaz back in his place.
McGregor is still the featherweight champion but has never defended his belt, or fought at the 145lbs limit since handing Aldo his first defeat in a decade. The issue with returning to the house that he owns is not a lack of opposition, but the physical demands of reducing his body weight.
Even before both Diaz fights, McGregor's weight cuts to make the featherweight limit were, well, notorious. He looked withdrawn and sickly when taking to the scales yet it never showed in his performances. Having allowed his body and muscle mass to naturally inflate to match Diaz's size, would he be able to sucker himself back down to his previously skinny physique?
Aldo, in McGregor's absence, has captured the interim belt after beating Frankie Edgar, making him the sole candidate to welcome the Irishman home. It appears unlikely that the champion will be tempted to inconvenience himself with a dramatic weight cut just to face someone who previously lasted the blink of an eye.
Lightweight
McGregor was scheduled to challenge for the 155lbs championship when his Diaz adventure began. Then-champion Rafael dos Anjos withdrew citing injury, Diaz stepped in, McGregor jumped up another weight category, and chaos has ensued ever since.
No UFC fighter has ever held two belts simultaneously and only BJ Penn and Randy Couture have won the title in different divisions separately. McGregor is a man with a keen eye for the record books and a crack at the lightweight championship could be his likeliest next step.
The man who currently holds the belt is Eddie Alvarez (28-4), who knocked out Dos Anjos in July. The Philadelphia fighter would surely jump at a chance to share McGregor's limelight in a major first title defence - the Irishman can match his height and has a five-inch reach advantage. Proof that size advantages across weight classes are often not black-and-white.
Welterweight
A single look at McGregor inside the cage with Diaz suggests he is undersized for 170lbs - the American is natural at the weight, as opposed to the division's top contenders who shed weight to make the limit. The likes of welterweight champion Tyron Woodley (16-3) would positively dwarf McGregor which makes it a monumental ask for him to regularly compete in this division.
But the offer of cold, hard cash could make things interesting. Diaz's elder brother Nick (26-10) would be a fascinating proposition as he approaches the end of a ban that could see him end his hiatus.
The biggest, most lucrative fight that the UFC could realistically make would be McGregor against Georges St-Pierre, the best ever welterweight champion who is one off UFC's all-time fighters. St-Pierre vacated his belt in 2013 after 12 straight wins but has tentatively hinted at an Octagon return. McGregor-St-Pierre is the stuff of dreams and will probably remain fantasy, but could be the only way that the Irishman remains at 170lbs.
