Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight titlist, Michael Bisping, believes Conor McGregor will fight Nate Diaz next.
‘The Notorious’ from Ireland completed a triumphant MMA return last January as he finished Donald Cerrone just 40 seconds into their main event welterweight clash at UFC 246.
It was McGregor’s first professional win in two years, following a tenth-round technical knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr in the most lucrative combat sports fight in history two years ago and a fourth-round submission defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018.
The Irishman is currently awaiting his next UFC bout, with big names from 155 pounds including Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje looming as his potential opponent.
But if Bisping were to ask, he expects the Nevada-based promotion to book McGregor against the Stockton fighter in a massive trilogy bout.
Big Business
In a recent episode of Believe You Me podcast, Bisping predicts the trilogy fight will happen first before the UFC gives McGregor the Khabib rematch.
“Conor’s next fight will be Nate Diaz 3,” the British fighter said.
“That’s my guess, that’s my semi-educated non-circle-of-trust guess. That’s me throwing s**t at a wall and seeing what sticks.”
“He [McGregor] was talking about Nate Diaz, and Nate Diaz 3 will do big business. Conor will smoke Nate Diaz because Nate Diaz has always been an average fighter; he just built his career on choking out Conor McGregor.”
“The second fight he got beat, and now because of all his inactivity, Conor will smoke him. So in the meantime, we’ll get Conor-Diaz 3 and then he’ll fight Khabib later in the year. That’s my prediction.”
Always Here
Following his UFC 246 win against Cerrone, the former two-division champion said he is still open to a third fight with Diaz.
“Let’s go Nathan. Let’s go brother. No. 3. It’s always here. We’re right here Nathan,” McGregor said.
The MMA rivals fought twice in 2016, with Diaz winning the first meeting by way of submission while McGregor eked out a majority decision victory in the rematch.
Diaz is coming off a TKO loss to Jorge Masvidal last November, when they tussled for the one-and-done ‘baddest motherf***er’ title at UFC 244.
MMA fans also speculated that McGregor and Diaz will fight later this year after the UFC booked Gaethje vs Ferguson in the now-defunct UFC 249 fight card.
However, it is still unclear when the UFC will return after its upcoming MMA shows were postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor)