After a disappointing start to his UFC career in the Welterweight division, it looks as though Conor McGregor will have to rebuild his empire in the familiar surroundings of the Featherweight class.
Given the late change of fighter and Nate Diaz's lack of camp training in advance of the fight, it was assumed that McGregor would breeze to victory at UFC 196. But Diaz's minimal reach advantage and physical superiority culminated in McGregor tapping out in the second round.
UFC president Dana White has always been an admirer of McGregor and in a post-fight interview, he spoke fondly of McGregor once again, despite him losing the fight.
''Conor looked amazing tonight, he looked unbelieveable but when you start throwing punches against a guy whose bigger and heavier and whose carrying more weight, you can get tired. During the first round I was thinking that this guy might be the greatest thing we've ever seen in history.''
. @UFC President @DanaWhite breaks down @TheNotoriousMMA's loss to @NateDiaz209 and the crazy night of #UFC196 https://t.co/DodXU5qlYQ
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) March 6, 2016
But amidst the Conor McGregor glorification, Frankie Edgar, who was a panelist for Fox Sports during the interview, spoke out and directly asked Dana White if he can be McGregor's next opponent in a 145Ib bout.
''I don't know what he's (Conor) gonna do. It makes all the sense in the world now for him to go back to 145Ib and defend his title against either Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo. We'll see when he wants to fight again, knowing him he might want to fight at (UFC) 200 so we'll see how this thing goes. You'll be getting a call from me, you know I love you, calm down.''
''I believe that if Conor McGregor won tonight, he would have been fighting Robbie Lawler at 170Ib and might have never gone back to 145Ib.''
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