Rematch Against Jose Aldo Seen as Likeliest Scenario Following UFC 196

Published on March 10th, 2016 11:16 pm EST
There were some pretty crazy plans for Conor McGregor if he had been able to defeat Nate Diaz at UFC 196.

According to some reports, the plan was for McGregor to challenge Robbie Lawler for the Welterweight title at UFC 200 if he had beaten Nate Diaz. According to other reports, McGregor was going to call out Georges St. Pierre.

In the end, Nate Diaz submitted Conor McGregor in the second round of the main event of UFC 196 this past weekend. While some of McGregor's more ambitious plans were derailed, there are still a number of big fights available for him. As we have learned over the past year or so, the UFC will pretty much give McGregor any fight that he wants due to his popularity.

Both McGregor and his coach have said that he will likely return to 145 pounds to defend his Featherweight title. The location of that fight hasn't been revealed as of yet, though it will almost certainly take place at UFC 200 in July. After all, that is expected to be one of the biggest UFC cards of all time, so it only makes sense to have McGregor on the card.

Here are the possibilities for McGregor's next fight, in order of their likeliness:

1) Jose Aldo - the former King of the 145 pound division. After not suffering a loss in over 10 years, Aldo was starched by McGregor in just 13 seconds at UFC 194. Aldo called out McGregor shortly after UFC 196, and both McGregor and his coach have said that they would like to fight Aldo. Aldo vs McGregor 2 is a near-mortal lock to take place, assuming that neither one of the men gets injured.

2) Frankie Edgar. Poor Frankie. Edgar has been campaigning for a fight against McGregor for about a year now, and it doesn't look like he is going to get the fight anytime soon. Frankie was passed over for the UFC 189 fight and he couldn't take the UFC 196 fight on short notice. Frankie has been very vocal about wanting to fight McGregor at UFC 200, though I don't think that he is going to get it.

3) Rafael dos Anjos. Dos Anjos has been lamenting his missed payday after he was forced to pull out of UFC 196 with a foot injury. There is a chance that the UFC could still put on the McGregor vs dos Anjos fight, though the optics would be a bit off considering that McGregor just lost to another Lightweight fighter. This fight probably won't happen.

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With Georges St. Pierre, Robbie Lawler and Conor McGregor all likely wanting to fight at UFC 200, the top of the card may very well end up being GSP vs Lawler and Aldo vs McGregor 2, though who knows what the UFC will end up putting together.