Conor McGregor excited to face lightweight contenders, open to Tony Ferguson fight

Conor McGregor is excited to test himself against all the top lightweight contenders.

McGregor returns to action at UFC 257 on January 23 when he faces Dustin Poirier in a lightweight rematch.

McGregor recently spoke of his desire to remain active in the lightweight division after the Poirier fight as he never had the chance to do so, especially in comparison to his featherweight stint.

And that means facing all the top contenders in the division.

“Every single one of them, John. I’ll go through every single one of them back-to-back,” McGregor said in an appearance on the Weighing In podcast. “And I have no qualms with who it is. I’m happy for [Dan] Hooker and [Michael] Chandler in the co-main event. I know they’re very excited for it, I know they’re both eager to put on a show and make a statement. I’m very excited to see how that bout goes. I wish both men well. If they’re next, they’re next.

“Obviously, you’ve got [Justin] Gaethje and [Charles] Oliveira in the mix as well. They may be competing also, I’m excited about that. I want them all to be honest, John. Every single one of them. I also heard the other day Dana had an interview with The Mac Life and he was saying about Nate Diaz coming back down to 155 pounds. That would be also pretty amazing for us to keep the trilogy at lightweight possibly for a title.”

Of course, one fight many wanted to see in the past was McGregor vs. Tony Ferguson.

Ferguson notably had issues with McGregor stemming from their time together at Paradigm with the former claiming he was mismanaged by the management company in addition to being owed $500,000 for not being given a fight with the Irishman.

And while many are counting Ferguson out following his recent two-fight losing streak, it’s still a fight that interests McGregor.

“There are many exciting things. I don’t overlook guys that maybe had a little bit of slip in the division also because it happens in this game,” McGregor added. “I look at the likes of Tony Ferguson, I still think he’s a solid fighter.

“There’s a lot of things that have gone on between myself and Tony regarding the management situation over the years. I would be open to a Tony Ferguson bout also. And if the other guy [Khabib Nurmagomedov] has the balls to come back and step in, if he stops running away, we are here for that also.”

You can watch the full interview below: