Conor McGregor got his wish. He wanted Nate Diaz, he wanted it at 170 lbs. He gets it, and the fight will be in just under a month at UFC 202.
It seems to be the perfect revenge match. A chance to redeem himself and get his profile going back in the right direction.
But that might not be all anymore. McGregor only faced Diaz in the first place after the Dubliner's title shot against Rafael Dos Anjos at lightweight was taken away with the Brazilian's injury.
Since then, any thoughts of McGregor having another title shot seem to be forgotten, especially with Eddie Alvarez shocking Dos Anjos to take the crown. It had been expected that either Tony Ferguson or Khabib Nurmagomedov - the third and first ranked challengers respectively - would get the first crack at a title shot.
Not if Alvarez has anything to do with it. He wants the winner of Diaz and McGregor. Badly. He doesn't care about the rankings.
See Also: Watch: Conor McGregor Gets The Call After Eddie Alvarez Takes Dos Anjos Apart
Alvarez has history with Diaz after nearly getting into a fight with him at a bar in Mexico, and the lightweight champion has been taking shot after shot at McGregor since April. Indeed, he was one of the fighters who wanted to replace Dos Anjos before Diaz got the call at UFC 196:
Initially I want the winner of Conor-Nate. I would like a big pay-per-view, big money fight. I'm willing to wait for one of them guys. I almost got in a fight with Nate in Mexico City so maybe we can settle our differences, and if Conor happens to win I welcome that fight as well.
The number one contender in my weight class has fought once in about the last three years or something. So I'm a little nervous about fighting a guy like that who barely shows up to fight. So Conor and Nate, they're the guys on my radar, one of them I'd really like to get my hands on.
Khabib's fought once in three years and he's number one and he decides he wants a title shot? The last guy he beat was virtually un-ranked - maybe top 100 in the world - and he's the number one guy in the world. So who says that? Who makes that up? Who appoints him number one? That being said, make the fights that make sense. Make the fights the fans want to see. Who gives a shit about the rankings?
Will it happen? It might just. It's hard to know what the UFC has in store - but it does look like McGregor can have his pick of fights if he wins. At the same time, Alvarez doesn't envision that happening:
I think Nate wins the same exact way he won the first time.
