What's Next For Conor & Nate

By Muk

After Saturday’s fight, we are left asking what is next for both Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz. Both men have stated their desire to have a third, and final fight for their trilogy. Conor in his post fight interview with Joe Rogan in the Octagon, said it will be on his terms this time since he won, and the two will fight at 155. Then Nate, in his press conference, said that he is not taking any other fights until the trilogy, and Conor shouldn’t either. We know that Dana White said after this fight, Conor has to be faced with the reality of his 145 pound belt. Jose Aldo is waiting and the division is hitting its peak with the rise of Holloway, Frankie still hanging on, and Pettis dropping down, Conor needs to face the music at 145 or vacate the belt. And that's exactly what the UFC officials have seemingly imposed on Conor, this ultimatum of defending his belt or moving on to pursue other ventures. My hopes for what would come after this fight, before it happened was, Conor would win, setting up a third fight. He would then go back down to 145 to fight Jose Aldo, and hopefully - defend his belt. I then feel that Holloway deserves a title shot after winning 8 straight fights, and Conor would look to defeat Max for the second time. Nate would go back to 155, fight another top 5 fighter, and then with a win hopefully get a title shot at 155 pounds, and defeat Eddie Alvarez to become champion. Okay, maybe I am dreaming a bit, thinking these two could put the trilogy off for close to a year as they each would fight two people in the meantime, but Conor could make some serious damage and buy himself some time at 145, and Nate could become the 155 champion with two victories, setting up the third and final fight between the two, almost a year from now, and put the lightweight belt on the line. Conor fighting to become a two belt champion, and Nate looking to make his first lightweight defense, would make for easily the biggest fight in UFC history, shattering PPV and arena ticket sales, with the two fighters expecting pay-outs of over $3 million for sure. Yes, that is all a long shot and all something I have created in my imagination, but a guy can dream can't he? I can't wait for Conor and Nate to run it back, but Conor needs to defend his 145 pound belt no matter what, or just walk away from it to pursue the 155 pound belt.