UFC: Dan Hardy Breaks Down Conor McGregor vs Justin Gaethje
As excited as many fans were to see Conor McGregor return against ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 246, there were many fans who believed that Justin Gaethje would have been a more deserving opponent to welcome the Irishman back to the Octagon.
We could however see McGregor face Gaethje next. Ariel Helwani recently stated that Justin is currently the front runner to face Conor next. And while Dana White has previously stated that the former UFC two division champion would face the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson, the UFC boss said earlier this week that he wasn’t sure if ‘The Notorious’ would want to wait that long for his next fight.
A McGregor vs Gaethje fight would make a huge amount of sense and the winner would certainly earn the next title shot. Speaking to Submission Radio (as transcribed by BJPenn.com), Dan Hardy broke down the potential fight between the two UFC lightweight contenders.
“So, you’ve got Conor coming back down to 155 [pounds], where the fight is most likely to be. He looked great at welterweight. I wonder how that transfers back down to 155 because I do feel like he put on muscle mass. The shoulders and triceps were a lot bigger. So there is a question on how that weight cut goes and how that reacts if Gaethje decides to wrestle. We go back to the Chad Mendes because someone with a skillset and a full training camp of Chad Mendes might have a bigger impact on Conor that night because he had a damn good go and he was stepping in on short notice.
“You have to think Justin Gaethje is a decent bit bigger than Chad Mendes. He’s got that wrestling offensive if he needs it and can hustle for 25 minutes if he needs it. He also maintains that power late in the rounds. So there’s a lot of ways Justin Gaethje can be a problem for Conor. Especially if Conor struggles getting back down to 155 and he’s not the same fighter that he was against ‘Cowboy’.”
To make things more interesting, in the last 30 minutes, Nate Diaz has taken to social media to hit out at McGregor.
Going into his fight with ‘Cowboy’ at UFC 246, McGregor had stated that he was going to treat 2020 like a season and wanted to compete three times. So Nate’s call out seems a little strange, as we’re only ten weeks into the new year and it hasn’t even been seven weeks since UFC 246.
Who would you like to see Conor McGregor fight next, Justin Gaethe, Nate Diaz or someone else?
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