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Analysis: Signs indicate McGregor will go for a new title before rematching Diaz

Conor McGregor could leapfrog lightweight title line and face Eddie Alvarez

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L.E. Baskow

Welterweight Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz trade blows during their UFC 202 fight night action at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, August 20, 2016.

Sun, Aug 21, 2016 (2 a.m.)

UFC 202: Conor McGregor-Nate Diaz

Welterweight Mike Perry pounds on Hyun Gyu Lim during their UFC 202 fight night action at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, August 20, 2016. Launch slideshow »

To Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz was always a detour.

That’s easy to forget amid the enthusiasm at the conclusion of the rivalry’s second chapter, where McGregor outlasted Diaz for a majority-decision victory (48-47, 48-47, 47-47) in a rugged 25-minute welterweight affair Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Diaz wound up a long and lucrative diversion, but there’s no disputing the route only appeared after then-lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos broke his foot 11 days before he was scheduled to face McGregor in March. Now that McGregor prevailed through the treacherous Diaz path at UFC 202 by avenging his earlier loss, it stands to reason he wants to head back to his original destination — a lightweight championship bout.

“There are many things in the pipeline,” McGregor said after the win. “Sit tight.”

It’s the first time McGregor, the UFC featherweight champion, has ever played coy about his future after a fight. Typically, he publicly navigates his upcoming plans like a GPS.

Staying shielded would only make sense if McGregor wanted to go in a direction out of the ordinary. And in the aftermath of UFC 202, conventional wisdom indicated he had two options — either grant Diaz a trilogy bout immediately or drop back to featherweight to face interim champion and fellow rival Jose Aldo.

It didn’t take much reading between the lines after UFC 202 to determine McGregor would rather bypass both. McGregor referenced his 13-second knockout of Aldo in December and the years of build-up before it as reasons for his waning interest in a rematch.

“It’s hard for me to get excited about that,” he said.

As for Diaz, McGregor stuck to his pre-fight assertion that he expected a third bout but not in the short-term. It was then that he gave his most revealing remark, sharing some of the stipulations in a third fight that he wants “on his terms.”

“I believe if we do it again, it will be at 155, maybe for the belt,” McGregor said.

It’s no secret the UFC would like McGregor to headline UFC 205 on November 12, the promotion’s first-ever card in New York at Madison Square Garden. Having McGregor challenge lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in an attempt to join Randy Couture and B.J. Penn as the only fighters to ever win titles in two different divisions would add to the event’s historic bent.

The biggest question after UFC 202 is if that’s even possible. McGregor labored his way out of the arena Saturday night, declining offers of assistance from security guards as he limped gingerly.

By the time he started speaking to media about an hour later, the stubbornness was gone. He used crutches at the news conference, and teammates helped him up the stairs.

McGregor denied reports of a broken foot, however, and blamed a sore shin for his mobility troubles.

“I kicked his knee about 40 times, and it’s (expletive) hurting me,” he said. “Just my shin; that’s it, and everything else feels good.”

Diaz embraced McGregor after the fight, but took some perverse pleasure in the injury. He thought it was one example that helped support his case that he won the fight.

McGregor scored three knockdowns in the opening eight minutes before Diaz was more effective for the rest of the fight. Diaz got his own knockdown at the end of the second round, throttled McGregor in the third and eked out a fifth-round edge with a late takedown.

The fourth was arguably the closest round, but McGregor won it on every scorecard to secure the victory and leave Diaz perplexed.

“He’s going to the hospital, I think,” Diaz said, “and I’m going to the after party.”

Despite the objections, Diaz is in no hurry to book another rematch. He announced that McGregor would be his next fight, but that the date was up to everyone else.

Having made the second-largest reported payout in UFC history of $2 million — behind McGregor’s $3 million — and in reality raking in much more than that, Diaz can afford some time off. And he doesn’t mind what McGregor does in the interim.

“But I don’t think it’s very good business for him to be taking any other fights, and he’s a businessman so let’s see what happens,” Diaz said.

Diaz signed off on McGregor’s demand to hold their next fight at lightweight. He said he would have preferred that the UFC 202 fight have been there so he could have showed off a six-pack of abs.

Ironically, McGregor spoke almost identically about his own midsection.

“I want to get my abs back,” McGregor said. “I don’t have abs at this weight. I can’t get abs even though I’m eating good. Sometimes I’m feeling like I’m a bit of a fat belly, so I’m going to go back down in weight. I’m the 145-pound champion and the 155-pound is there.”

McGregor sounds like he's looking straight ahead at the journey that he was on before getting knocked off course by dos Anjos’ injury and Diaz’s upset. Diaz is further up the road, which may never intersect with Aldo again.

Alvarez might be the next stop.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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