Conor McGregor 's trainer has proposed a four-man tournament which would crown the baddest lightweight on the planet.- The coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of
UFC 249, an event which was originally supposed to seeKhabib Nurmagomedov defend his lightweight title againstTony Ferguson . - Nurmagomedov withdrew, unable to fly because of a lockdown in Russia. This left UFC scrambling to save the show, matching Ferguson against late replacement
Justin Gaethje . - But this fight, too, was canceled after political and media backlash saw Disney and ESPN force UFC's hand.
- Now, Kavanagh says they should all get it on — McGregor and Gaethje, then Nurmagomedov and Ferguson. The winners from each semifinal would then compete in a lucrative, landmark, winner-takes-all final.
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From the ashes of the cursed, controversial, and behind-closed-doors UFC 249 event arises John Kavanagh's proposal for a four-man tournament to decide today's baddest lightweight on the planet.
The UFC president Dana White was last week forced by "the powers-that-be" at Disney and ESPN to cancel plans for an April 18 event on native-American land, as UFC 249 attracted governmental pleas and media backlash to abort the show while the rest of the country was locked down amid a nation-wide effort to defeat the coronavirus.
All of the UFC's shows are now on hold, yet Conor McGregor's lifelong trainer Kavanagh floated an idea on Twitter that would see the UFC's top four 155-pounders wage war in back-to-back-to-back events.
It would look something like this:
- Semifinal A: Conor McGregor vs. Justin Gaethje in the summer
- Semifinal B: Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) vs. Tony Ferguson in the summer
- Final: Winner of semifinal A vs. winner of semifinal B (c) on December 31
Kavanagh's pitch was that this last-man-standing competition could wrap up the complex lightweight landscape within six months of the first bout, and could even be concluded this year – with the final landing on New Year's Eve, a coveted date in the mixed martial arts calendar.
—Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) April 9, 2020
The winner would be the world's No.1 fighter
Three of the competitors in this proposal feature prominently in Insider's ranking of the 15 best mixed martial artists in the world today, while the fourth — Gaethje — is a win away from gatecrashing the list.
Each fight would, on paper, be competitive.
Semifinal A between McGregor and Gaethje would be a striking masterclass. Victory for the Irishman would be his first meaningful win since 2016, as his comfortable slaughter of Donald Cerrone earlier this year was against an athlete who had lost two in a row before he met McGregor in Las Vegas. A win for Gaethje, meanwhile, would be the greatest result on his resume.
The tournament structure would also match Nurmagomedov, the champion, against Ferguson for the sixth time.
The ongoing pandemic caused the most recent cancelation, but this followed four other failed attempts to book this fight.
Regardless, it remains the most significant bout the UFC could create as Nurmagomedov is undefeated in 28 fights and has lost only one round in his entire professional life — to McGregor, in a 2018 submission win.
Ferguson has been on a gauntlet run of late, has not lost in eight years, and is one of the most well-rounded fighters in all MMA.
Should Nurmagomedov retain his title in the semis and the final, he would be even more deserving of the No.1 spot Insider already has him in — but that ranking could easily change if somebody was able to slay him in Kavanagh's proposal for a landmark tournament.
Read more:
Justin Gaethje would 'destroy' Conor McGregor in a single round, according to a UFC champion
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