Conor McGregor surrounded by 'rookies and has-beens' at featherweight
It was hard to ignore the main event feel when Conor McGregor walked towards the Octagon on Saturday night for his fight against Dustin Poirier. He received the full headline treatment with cameras following him from the back all the way out to the cage. He got the staredown with Poirier that's typically reserved for main events or at least co-main events. And at the post-fight press conference, the overwhelming amount of questions were for McGregor.
Following the win, the buzz in the air was McGregor's standing in the division after dispatching of Poirier inside the first round. Poirier had never been knocked out in his UFC career and the only fighter that finished him was "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung late in their fight.
The win will likely vault McGregor into the top five of the featherweight division rankings and there's a good chance he'll get to face the winner of the upcoming UFC 178 main event between champion Jose Aldo and No. 1 contender Chad Mendes. While UFC president Dana White wasn't ready to make that announcement just yet, McGregor was more than happy to declare that he was prepared and willing to fight the winner or even step in for one of the participants if somebody gets injured in the next few weeks.
"At the end of the day as long as I show up and my check is what it says it's going to be, then I'll show up and kill whoever they put in front of me. Of course I want that gold belt. Don't tell me that that gold belt sitting up right there on this table would not look great to go alongside this ivory elephant trunk suit that I've got on me right now," McGregor said.
"I know Dana wants to see it. I know Lorenzo (Fertitta) wants to see it. Shout out to Uncle Frank (Fertitta), I know he wants to see it. It's what the fans want, it's what I want. I said I was going to put him away in one round, no one's ever knocked him out. No one has ever done that to Dustin before. He's a great guy, I have nothing but respect for him. I don't just knock them out -- I also pick the round."
McGregor has stated on numerous occasions that he doesn't really care much about who wins between Aldo and Mendes so his opinion doesn't matter in regards to how they match up with each other. What McGregor knows for certain is that he will beat either one and make it look easy just like he did to Poirier on Saturday night.
"I believe I will dismantle both of them," McGregor said. "Chad's a 5'6" overblown, he should be a 135er, but he's gone past that limit now. Now he's just a little small bodybuilder that's stuck in the 145-pound division, he gets tired quick. He's 5'6", a 65-inch reach, I have an eight-inch reach advantage on him, I would tower over him. So I'd maul Chad.
"Jose, again, I feel he's in that pattern of deterioration, so again another easy win. The division seems to be full of rookies and has-beens. So I'm just enjoying myself, collecting these checks on my way, eliminating each one."
McGregor will be in Brazil in October to sit front and center for the Aldo/Mendes matchup so don't be surprised if he ends up somehow walking into the Octagon when it's over to officially challenge the victor.
Cat Zingano vs. Ronda Rousey Likely for UFC 182 on Jan. 3
Following a rough first-round start against Amanda Nunes at UFC 178, Cat Zingano powered back with a dominant second round before finishing the top-10 ranked Brazilian in the third. The win marked the second for Zingano in the UFC, but it was the first time she had been in the Octagon in over a year following knee surgery.
While Zingano has been fairly soft spoken all week leading up to the fight, White revealed that when she finished Nunes it didn't take her long to spot where he was sitting cageside so she could deliver a message.
"This is what I'm assuming, because she was screaming at me after the fight, she ran over and started screaming 'do you see me!'. This was the 'shut up about Gina Carano fight'. I think that was the statement she wanted to make and she made it loud and clear," White said about Zingano.
White went one step further to confirm Zingano is next for UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, stating "she's in," and assuming she's healthy following the bout with Nunes, all signs are pointing towards a Jan. 3 showdown as the co-main event on the UFC 182 card headlined by light heavyweight champion Jon Jones against Daniel Cormier.
As for Zingano, despite the arduous year she's endured, which also included the passing of her husband, she seemed at peace following the win and ready to get back on the title trail as soon as possible.
"I was really, really pushing just to get through this fight and I knew breaking through this barrier with me showing my face a lot more," Zingano said. "I just had to get through this one."
Dominick Cruz vs. T.J. Dillashaw Official
In other title fight news, Dominick Cruz returned at UFC 178 after three years on the sidelines and made quick work of top 10 ranked bantamweight Takeya Mizugaki. Cruz didn't just win, he bludgeoned Mizugaki with strikes before getting a first-round stoppage in just 61 seconds.
The questions about Cruz returning to form after such a long layoff were answered with an emphatic thud as he put Mizugaki away faster than he's ever been finished in his entire career. There's no more waiting for Cruz at this point because he's on a mission to reclaim the bantamweight title he never lost in the first place.
"Nothing but respect for everybody in the division, but I never really lost my title," Cruz said. "I got hurt. I haven't been sitting around eating, getting fat, doing nothing. I've been working, analyzing fights, breaking them down, learning about everybody in the division, everybody's style, watching people, take bits and pieces of things I talk about and make it their own. I'm watching this sport evolve and I'm watching people grow and get better. I'm with them. I haven't just been sitting around.
"I'm ready to go out there and get that belt. I never lost it, it should have never gotten into anybody else's hands, but I was hurt, it was my own doing. So I just want to go prove that I'm still there."
White agrees with Cruz and while the news will probably upset fellow top five ranked fighter Raphael Assuncao, who has a win over Dillashaw but has now twice been passed over for title shots due to extenuating circumstances, the former champion is getting the chance to reclaim the belt he never lost.
"He didn't lose his belt fighting," White said. "He's the unluckiest man on Earth. Yeah he's the guy. Yeah (he gets Dillashaw next)."
