Who’s next for Conor McGregor? Artem Lobov believes it’s Tony Ferguson.
At UFC 216, Ferguson captured the interim UFC lightweight title. He submitted Kevin Lee inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the past, Lobov said there were no clear contenders for McGregor.
He’s changing his tune after seeing Ferguson emerge with interim gold. Speaking with MMAFighting.com, Lobov explained why he feels “El Cucuy” is next:
“I think Tony is next. The only reason why I say that is it was unclear who was next for the title shot. There was Khabib, there was Tony and then Kevin Lee stood up. Then, when Kevin Lee was announced we weren’t sure that Tony would be ready. As soon as Tony got the belt, in my eyes he’s next because Tony obviously wants that belt.”
As far as the rest of the top lightweights go, Lobov believes Khabib Nurmagomedov can fight another top contender and that Nate Diaz can stay in the conversation.
“In my head, Conor defends the belt against Tony. In the mean time, Khabib can fight the winner of Alvarez and Gaethje. Whoever wins that can be next. While all that takes place, we can throw Diaz in the mix there somewhere.”
