Conor McGregor On Who He Thinks He Will Fight Next In UFC, UFC 217 Embedded, UFC 221

By Doric Sam

- Above you can watch the second episode of UFC 217 Embedded. The series is following the six fighters in the three title fights from Saturday's card: middleweight champ Michael Bisping, Georges St. Pierre, bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt, T.J. Dillashaw, strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Rose Namajunas. This episode takes place the weekend before fight week as the fighters use their down time to do some training, traveling, shopping and more. You can watch the first episode of Embedded by clicking here.

- Conor McGregor offered a bit of clarity for who his next opponent will be. In an interview with Ireland's entertainment.ie to promote his upcoming documentary, McGregor pointed to a title unification bout against interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson as the top option. McGregor has yet to defend his UFC lightweight title and hasn't fought in MMA since November 2016. He mentioned other options such as a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz, but maintained a fight with Ferguson is more likely provided that negotiations go well.

"I've got everyone clawing at me, trying to get at me, and that's from multiple sports, multiple organizations, multiple everything," McGregor said. "It's been like that for a long, long time, I feel, so it's just another day for me. I know there are many contenders in the UFC. There are many boxing contenders as well. What interests me is certainly a UFC bout, certainly a defense of my lightweight title. There is a fighter with the interim lightweight belt. I feel that will be next. We'll see how negotiations go.

"The Diaz trilogy is also there," he continued. "I can defend my belt against Nate. Maybe we can persuade one of these boxing opponents to step into the Octagon, or there's also boxing bouts as well. So, there's so many options. I feel to legitimize the belt ? there's an interim champion, I'm the unified champion ? I feel that will be next. We are currently in contract negotiations, and we'll see where it goes."

- The UFC announced today that UFC 221 will be held in Perth, Australia on Feb. 11 (Feb. 10 in North America). It will be the UFC's first event in Perth after previously holding events in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Gold Coast. In the company's press release, UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, the first champion of Australian descent, lobbied for a title unification fight at UFC 221.

"Anything can happen between now and Sunday, February 11. With that said, fighting on home soil is always a dream come true and I'd love to unify the UFC middleweight title here in Australia," he said. "My next stop is New York City to be Octagon-side for UFC 217 ? let's see what happens in that main event between Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre."

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