Conor McGregor's Future at Lightweight

Conor McGregor held court in downtown Los Angeles yesterday, using a UFC 194 press appointment to reestablish himself as the kind of quote-spitting prizefighter who would have been as at home among Depression-era sportswriters with ink-stained fingers as he was among reporters swiping touchscreens. The interim featherweight champion spent an hour saying things like, "Vegas is a crazy town for a young multimillionaire world champion," or, when asked whether he really believed champion Jose Aldo's remark that he didn't watch McGregor's UFC 189 victory over Chad Mendes, McGregor replied, "Maybe he could not see it from under his duvet."

McGregor also mentioned a possibility that would allow for more gourmet meals on the Strip: a future at lightweight.

"I said I would kill the featherweight division. There's nobody left," McGregor said. "If Frankie [Edgar] was to put on a phenomenal performance and stop Chad or something like that, then I could probably say, 'Alright, let's answer the Frankie question. Let's shut him down real quick.' In my mind, I'm thinking unify and destroy. I'm gonna unify the belt and destroy the division. Then I'm gonna go take the lightweight division. That's where I'm headed right now."

A high-profile MMA fighter hopping from one weight class to the next always brings intrigue, whether it's a cross-division hypothetical like GSP-Anderson Silva or a rare, real superfight like GSP-BJ Penn. And while dropping down in weight is a go-to strategy when losses pile up, going in the other direction is usually a gesture of confidence, something McGregor has in ample supply. He also has experience: he entered the UFC with the Cage Warriors 155-pound belt.

McGregor also has savvy, so while he'd never admit it with microphones around, he has to know there's work left to do at featherweight before he can make others believe there's truly "nobody left." First, there's Aldo on Dec. 12 at UFC 194. Assuming McGregor wins—a big assumption, considering Aldo will have enjoyed a full decade without a loss by fight night—he'd do well to face the winner of Chad Mendes versus Frankie Edgar, which will have sorted itself out at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale one night earlier. For all of his public skepticism, McGregor knows that Edgar is a viable contender with a four-fight win streak and his own legacy as a lightweight champion to his credit. A rematch with Mendes less attractive, but the questions lingering from their last fight are enough to fuel a meeting after full camps and without injuries. Even Max Holloway is an interesting challenger: seven wins since McGregor took him to a decision back in 2013 prove he's a better fighter than he let on.

There are enough curiosities left that McGregor doesn't need to exit anytime soon, but for all of his talk of destroying a division, McGregor's choice to move up to 155 pounds might not be much of a choice at all. The ban on using IVs for post-weigh-in rehydration is expected to go into effect next month [LINK: http://fightland.vice.com/blog/bidding-farewell-to-mmas-iv-era], driving giants into higher weight classes. McGregor's a large enough featherweight that when you hear rumors that his cut has gone awry, they seem plausible until he steps on the scale. If he can't mainline his way back to vitality, how long can he safely drain the weight from his 5-foot-9-inch frame and balloon back up with a Nalgene bottle? Better to call your fate an act of volition.

But moving up also has a benefit beyond McGregor's wellbeing: assuming they don't all pull the IVs from their veins and flee to welterweight, the lightweight division is full of new possibilities. Imagine a pay-per-view headlined by McGregor versus Rafael dos Anjos or Donald Cerrone—both of whom took shrapnel from McGregor later in the day on UFC Tonight —or Khabib Nurmagomedov, or Anthony Pettis, or the rest of the best at 155 pounds. Imagine the rematch that's already waiting for him against Joe Duffy, the last person to beat him. Instead of hard-sell promos that try to convince us that some unknown, down-in-the-rankings challenger poses the toughest test to date, an audience would see McGregor opposite fresh, worthy rivals.

Elsewhere during his time with the media, McGregor mentioned another possible future. "I love this life. It's important for me to remind myself of that," McGregor said yesterday. "There's definitely days where I'm like, fuck all of this, I'm out of here. And maybe one day I will be out of here, and I won't say nothing to nobody. I'll just be gone somewhere."

It's hard to imagine that day coming anytime soon. There are still too many enemies out there, and they come in all shapes and sizes.