Conor McGregor teased fans regarding his future and a possible move up to 185 pounds this weekend. In discussing Kelvin Gastelum’s career at middleweight, he took to his favorite mouthpiece of late, Twitter, and expressed his thoughts on the matter.
McGregor Tweeted: “Gastelum a 5’9 MW with a 71.5 inch reach. I’m 5’9 with a 74 inch reach. Interesting to know as I continue my journey. Good luck to the lads tonight.
Can Conor McGregor Fight at Middleweight?
Cannonier the only other man with ko’s in 3 divisions, albeit going down vs up, ala moi.”
Conor made no mistakes in reminding fight fans that he boasts knockouts in three weight classes, just like Cannonier. Conor McGregor isn’t exactly shy about his outlandish plans, and with a long road to recovery in front of him, he may well see higher weight classes in his future.
Although much of Conor McGregor’s meteoric rise to the top of the UFC came in the 145lb featherweight division, he was always among featherweights.
Shocking photos of McGregor’s sunken cheeks and gaunt physique at the weigh-in for his fight against Jose Aldo confirmed that he was cutting massive weight in order to compete at featherweight. McGregor was comfortably knocking his opponents out at 145 pounds, but had worse luck at lightweight.
Although he bounced between lightweight and featherweight prior to his arrival in the UFC, Conor’s sole UFC lightweight win was his title victory over Eddie Alvarez. Since then, Khabib and Dustin Poirier have handed him three losses at 155 pounds.
Surprisingly, McGregor fared better at welterweight, where he has two wins (Diaz and Cowboy) and a single loss, to Nate Diaz. Conor has frequently called welterweight champion Kamaru Usman out, and hinted at returning to 170 pounds in order to launch an assault on Usman’s seemingly invincible reign in the welterweight division.
As McGregor gets older, cutting weight to fight at 145 or 155 pounds will get harder. His old enemy Nate Diaz is still doing the rounds at welterweight, which may offer yet another intriguing proposition for “The Notorious”.
Although McGregor may be a comfortable welterweight, adding an extra fifteen pounds to compete with the likes of Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya is another story entirely. He may well put his long recovery period into use gaining weight, but McGregor’s stature will be a sure disadvantage.
Israel Adesanya, undefeated middleweight champion, stands six feet and four inches tall, over half a foot above McGregor. What’s more, Kelvin Gastelum remained competitive at middleweight thanks in no small part to his prodigious wrestling ability. Conor has traditionally struggled against high-level wrestlers, and his own wrestling is still a relatively miniscule facet of Conor’s fight game.
The notion of becoming the UFC’s first “champ-champ-champ” or even “quadruple champ” no doubt appeals to Conor McGregor, but at this late stage of his storied career is it even feasible? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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