Conor McGregor, the interim featherweight MMA champion, is already looking into getting to another weight class as soon as he defeats champion Jose Aldo this coming UFC 194.
In a recent interview, McGregor said that winning over Aldo will get him closer to his goal at the 145-pound MMA division and get him on his way for the lightweight title.
Conor, who has a record of 18-2 MMA and 6-0 UFC, will be going up against Jose Aldo (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and fight as the main card event this coming December 12th at the UFC 194 event. This will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena at Las Vegas. This fight will make his featherweight title official. Another fighter has challenged McGregor when the interim champ won his fight against Chad Mendes. However, this potential fight can be possible under specific terms.
Mendes, who has a record of 19-4-1 MMA and 13-4-1 UFC, will be going up against Edgar (19-4-1 MMA, 13-4-1 UFC) this coming December 22nd at the TUF 22 Finale. McGregor said that the performance in this event could make him stay a bit longer at the featherweight division.
“If Frankie was to put on a phenomenal performance and stop Chad, then I could probably say alright, let’s answer the Frankie question, let’s shut him down real quick. But in my mind, I’m thinking unify and destroy,” McGregor said.
Just recently, Mendes admitted that the reason why he had a TKO loss during the second round is because he did not prepare well for the fight. He attributed this to the preparations he had to do on a very short notice when he was contacted to replace Aldo. However, McGregor isn’t buying this reason.
“Chad can say it’s cardio, but me and Chad know better. But I can’t blame Chad for making an excuse. He went from (making $48,000 to show and $48,000 to win) to $500,000 flat. Why wouldn’t he want an opportunity like that again?,” McGregor said in a recent interview with MMAjunkie.
The interim featherweight MMA champ reportedly earned half a million dollars for his win against Mendes, but that amount still does not include the earnings he got on the side like bonuses and incentives. These arrangements on the side probably spiked his earnings up to millions. There was also a rumor that UFC executives had placed a bet worth $3 million if McGregor managed to beat Mendes early into the round.
With his career on the roll, McGregor said that his goal now isn’t to become right, but to become wealthy.
“I’m going to unify the belts and destroy the division and then I’m going to go up and take the lightweight division, as well. So that’s where I’m headed right now,” McGregor said.
As of today, only Randy Couture and B.J. Penn have only been the ones being able to achieve multiple-division titles. In reality, actually booking a fight is less attractive rather than the idea of organizing and putting up a megafight.
Aside from this, the UFC does not usually respond to champions transferring to other MMA weight classes to win the rest of the belts. But in McGregor’s case, his track record has been really amazing that he can actually pull off his plans of moving getting the rest of the titles.