Luque: Usman Likely Finishes McGregor If They Fought

What Conor McGregor wants, he generally gets. Upon his eventual return, “The Notorious” has recently expressed his interest in challenging reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight king, Kamaru Usman.

2-1 as a Welterweight, McGregor’s last victory came in the division when defeating Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 246 in Jan. 2020 (watch highlights). However, he’s lost back-to-back encounters with Dustin Poirier since. McGregor’s most recent affair saw him suffer a nasty leg break that he continues to recover from (watch highlights).

Meanwhile, Leon Edwards is expected to be Usman’s next challenger for sometime during the summer. Right behind Edwards in the contender line is Brazil’s Vicente Luque who doesn’t foresee McGregor skipping the 170-pound line to be the wisest of ideas.

“McGregor, all that I would see on him right now is that he has great timing. So he’s able to time guys really well,” Luque told John Hyon Ko. “He could hit Kamaru with something clean and maybe get a win. But other than that, I think Kamaru goes in there and dominates him and possibly, probably finishes him. Especially because McGregor doesn’t do well in five-rounders. His rhythm goes down, he just doesn’t look as good in the fourth and the fifth as he does in the rest of the fight. And Kamaru, man, he looks even better in the fifth round than he does in the first. So unless McGregor catches him with something crazy and Kamaru can take a shot. I’ve seen him get hit in some fights clean and he doesn’t even wobble. So unless something crazy happens, I see a win for Kamaru, a dominant win for sure.”

The No. 4-ranked Luque (21-7-1) has been nothing but excitement in the Octagon. Currently riding a four-fight winning streak, 13 of his 14 wins have ended via finish (eight knockouts, five submissions). Luque’s last victory came over Michael Chiesa at UFC 265 in Aug. 2021 (watch highlights) and he’ll rematch Belal Muhammad in the upcoming main event of UFC Vegas 51 on Apr. 16, 2022.