Dana White made sure that UFC 306 was as extravagant as he had promised. However, the UFC boss is big on moving on to his next big plan for the promotion. Greater matchups like Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree and the much-awaited Conor McGregor comeback are just a select few! And recently the boss disclosed the possibility of Mcgregor’s fight happening in early 2025 further fuelling the speculations about the latter’s next opponent after Michael Chandler’s exit from the scenario. Interestingly, Nate Diaz’s name is one that keeps popping up to no surprise, given their long yore in the promotion!

And right on this note, an ex-UFC light heavyweight contender decided to throw out more possible names for ‘The Notorious’. He spoke at length about the possible fight month in 2025 and also the top contenders who might face off against the former dual-weight champion. Let’s take a look!

Insider spills the beans on who might be Conor McGregor’s next opponent 

In his recent video, Chael Sonnen shared about his experience in Las Vegas during the post-fight event at UFC 306. He and his colleague’s phones started going off with information about Chandler being booked against Charles Oliveira. While Brendan Schaub and Dominic were registering the news, the ‘American Gangster’ had an epiphany; What did it mean for McGreogr? Now the thing is, ‘The Notorious’ was ready to fight in December but he did not get a date and White declared that he would be fighting in early 2025.

Sonnen, however, did not hold back on his views about the upcoming fight that McGregor will have and the opponents he might get. According to Sonnen, “Possible suspects for Conor starting to come up. Nate Diaz’s name got thrown around, again I am with Brendan I am with Dom. Jorge Masvidal’s name gets thrown around. And we are all going into our inside sources trying to find out what’s going on. And it came back to us, whether it was accurate or not. It came back to us that Conor’s next fight will be no earlier than June of next year.”

UFC fans have been waiting for the former dual-weight champion to come into the octagon since 2021. Sadly, these long-expected plans were squashed after Michael Chandler gave up on waiting for his Irish opponent. Regardless, Sonnen is spot on in his assessment of the MMA superstar’s opponents. The potential opponents would probably be Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal, Justin Gaethje, or Max Holloway. Now why might Nate Diaz vs. McGregor be an iconic matchup? This is because at UFC 196 in 2016, Nate Diaz handed ‘Mystic Mac’ his first loss at UFC. Yet, their saga did not end there.

They faced off again in a re-match at UFC 202 and this time, Mcgregor was the winner. However the ‘Stockton Slapper’ is a free agent as of now since he did not re-sign with the promotion after his win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. So this fight would need White to request Diaz to come back and thus seems a little dicey.

Now let’s come to Max Holloway and McGregor who had faced off in a featherweight showdown in 2013. ‘Blessed’ lost the fight and the Irishman won via unanimous decision. After that Holloway became the BMF champ at UFC 300 and has been eyeing another match with McGregor. When it comes to Poirier vs. McGregor, we all know how that ended. Dustin Poirier might fight Mcgregor since ‘The Diamond’ is looking to secure one final bout before retiring from UFC. And maybe Mac will not be naive to say no to only his chance at redemption at an ordeal that forced his long sabbatical in the first place.

McGregor has been in a hiatus for three years after his shin bone injury in the fight against Dustin Poirier. And now that Michael Chandler has finally given up waiting for him and apparently will fight Charles Oliveira at UFC 309, a reaction out of ‘Mystic Mac’ was only expected.

Conor McGregor lashes out after learning about Oliveira vs. Chandler

The Irishman took to his X handle as soon as he got to know about the news, and called out Chandler, demanding a date from the UFC CEO. He said, “Chandler saw that takedown getting stuffed and mauled and officially dipped.” He also added, “Little Fat Pu**y. I’m at the Hard Rock Hotel Florida for the Bare Knuckle tonight. Got tested earlier today by DFSI. Give me my fu**ing date!”

His anger was palpable and some may even deem it logical. Yet, one should also remember that Chandler had been waiting for him for almost two years. White had already offered Chandler an out, and that is exactly what he did. Chandler took to his Instagram handle to announce, “I’m gonna fight Charles Oliveira. Why am I gonna fight Charles Oliveira? Number 1, it’s a bad** fight. Number 2, it’s a rematch. It’s a redemption story for me. The dude who already stole from me.” 

But Iron is still open to the possibility of settling his scores with McGregor, given how the head honcho confirmed a 2025 date. So what is your take in the whole ordeal? State your thoughts in the comments below.