McGregor Agrees To Fight Sanchez In Final UFC Bout

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Conor McGregor may be officially retired, but that hasn’t stopped the former UFC champion from issuing challenges to fellow fighters.

While “Notorious” has already expressed his plans to take out the Diaz brothers in 2021 the Irishman is also open to competing against UFC veteran Diego Sanchez in his last trip to the Octagon.

Sanchez, who meets Jake Matthews this weekend at UFC 253 from “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, spoke with reporters earlier this week about his remaining fights under the UFC banner. The veteran fighter is hoping to end his career by challenging some of the biggest legends in the sport.

“My goals in these last four fights in the UFC is to finish strong, to finish healthy,” Sanchez said during UFC 253’s media day. “I’m looking for legend fights. I’m not looking past Jake Matthews, but I’m looking for some legend fights.”

When asked which “legends” Sanchez would like to fight the 15-year UFC veteran immediately tossed out some names, which included McGregor.

“Nick Diaz is coming back. There’s some other names, Nate Diaz, there’s a lot of big fights that would be appealing for the fans. I said I shoot for the moon. Conor McGregor is the number four fight,” said Sanchez.

“I envision myself dominating these next three fights and finishing my career with a fight with Conor McGregor. That’s my dream. That’s my vision. As I build my legacy and his does what his does, I’ll be waiting if he wants to do it at the end of the road.”

Oddly enough, McGregor was quick to confirm his intentions to fight Sanchez in his final UFC bout. The former two-division champion revealed a conversation he had with UFC president Dana White back in February about fighting “Nightmare” in Dublin. White quickly responded by saying, “We should lose our promoter’s license if we make that fight.”

Despite White’s response from earlier this year McGregor is still pushing the potential matchup.

“To Diego Sanchez… I seen your recent comments about your final bout and I am in! After you fought Pereira, I had requested for myself and you to compete in Dublin. This was back in February when I was working on opposition for my season, pre-COVID. Good luck this weekend!” wrote McGregor.

While a fight between McGregor and Sanchez would be chaos for as long as it lasted it’s a true mismatch at this point in time. Sanchez was once one of the best lightweight fighters in the world, but the 38-year-old veteran is simply a shell of his former self and would have no business inside of the cage with a top-ranked fighter like McGregor, whether “Notorious” is “retired” or not.

At this point, fight fans really don’t know what to expect from McGregor or who he might fight in his return to the Octagon. It’s highly unlikely that it will involve Sanchez, but nothing would be surprising at this point.

What say you, Maniacs? Would you want to see a McGregor vs. Sanchez showdown in Dublin?

Sound off!