Dana White, Conor McGregor Diff On Next Opponent After UFC 246

For now, Conor McGregor’s focus remains solely on Donald Cerrone and their bout Saturday night at UFC 246.

But, as is always the case surrounding “Notorious,” it is hard to not look towards the future.

With McGregor mentioning a possible – and likely – return to the boxing ring in the coming months, his next UFC bout is just as much a mystery.

For McGregor, he wants to remain at welterweight where his bout with Cerrone is set and possibly tackle Jorge Masvidal. White, meanwhile, sees it differently as he told Submission Radio.

“I don’t like Conor at 170. I never did, and I don’t now. This guy was a 145-pound champion and he’s fighting at 170 pounds,” White said. “That’s such a huge jump. But that’s what makes Conor Conor, and that’s why everybody loves him. But when you look at this fight, it’s two of the most beloved fighters in UFC history facing off against each other, and people care.”

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to meet Tony Ferguson in the coming months, but for the time being those two – and that title – are locked up.

“Listen, me and Conor will fight about this in private,” White said. “I don’t like the Masvidal fight. And it pisses him off when I say that. I would rather have him wait for Khabib and fight Khabib. But most of my arguments with Conor McGregor I don’t win, so we’ll see what happens.”

What does that mean for Masvidal? White likes UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman for his next opponent.

“Masvidal should fight Usman next,” White said. “That’s the fight to make.”

Of course, as only White can, he made sure to add in this asterisk to those possible futures.

“When do I not give the fans what the fans want? And when do I not give Conor, or even Israel – look at Israel,” he said. “Israel wants to fight the nastiest, meanest dude in the division when that guy isn’t next in line for a title. He could sit around and wait for the Costa fight. He wants to fight the guy that literally nobody wants to fight. Nobody wants that fight. Nobody wants to fight Romero. And the fact that he wants it, I respect it so much, he’s getting the fight. So, listen, I have my ideas of how things should go and who should do what, but it doesn’t always go that way. Look at right now, Aldo and Cejudo want to fight. We’re gonna do it. So, we’ll see how this whole thing plays.”