När Conor McGregor hade sitt Q&A under fredagen, kom mycket intressant fakta fram. Mästaren sade nämligen att han inte längre jagar ”money fights”, efter att ha nåt toppen i och med matchen med Floyd Mayweather där vinnaren tog hem ”The WBC Money Belt”. Irländaren är istället fokuserad på att försvara sitt bälte och legitimera det, något som fansen bett om sedan länge.
“Look, I’ve got the UFC title to defend and that means something to me. I will defend that world title,” sa McGregor till Caroline Pearce under frågestunden.
“Nathan (Nate Diaz) is there. He’s trying to come in here and make all of these demands. If he starts pricing himself out of an event, I probably will defend against the person who wins this interim belt…or someone along that line to legitimize it again.
“I’ve already gone from the highest of the high in terms of a money fight. Now the question I always get is about defending the belt and legitimizing the sport and the rankings.
“Maybe now it would be a good time for me to go and do that and shut that side up.”
Öppen för möte med interimmästaren
Vidare säger McGregor att han är intresserad av de lättviktsmatcher som kommer den närmsta tiden och att nästa utmanare kan komma från någon av dem. Han är dock orolig för att Tony Ferguson eller Khabib Nurmagomedov ska dra sig ur av olika anledningar, som de har gjort tidigare.
HETAST JUST NU
”Again, we’ll see what happens in the fight (next) week. I hope they make the walk. I’ve seen it so many times where they slip on the bleedin’ soap getting out of the bath,” sa McGregor.
“Honestly, I feel like in the Tony and Khabib fight, they were in a game of chicken of whose going to pull out first.”
“In my head now, I’m very interested in seeing this fight this weekend and to see how the lightweight title picture pans out and to go in and correct that whole situation. That’s where my thoughts are.
“I also have history with Nate. It’s 1-1 and that has to happen. It will happen. The more I spend time away from it, I think I’ve already done all of the money fights. Now, to legitimize a title and to bring it back, I could potentially bring it back.
“That’s a little bit exciting for me. I’ll see how this whole title picture plays out and we’ll go from there.”