It’s safe to say that Conor McGregor probably doesn’t have many friends in the UFC, or at least in the weight divisions around him.

They all want a piece of him, and that negative reputation probably isn’t helped by the fact that he’s aggressively pursuing a super fight with Floyd Mayweather inside of a boxing ring.

CRITICS

His interests obviously have an impact on the UFC, as they’re having to scramble together other fights to make up for the hole at the top of the lightweight division as he’s currently on a hiatus from the Octagon.

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The organisation tried to do something about it by having Khabib Nurmagomedov battle Tony Ferguson for the interim crown, but The Eagle pulled out just one day before the event and El Cucuy was left without an opponent.

Nurmagomedov and Ferguson are just two fighters that have hit out at the Notorious, as Jose Aldo is another while the likes of Tyron Woodley and even Gegard Mousasi have criticised him for his antics – or his failure to defend a title.

Ferguson has been the most vocal about it for a while now, demanding the Irishman vacate his title or fight him, but that hasn’t moved any close either despite UFC president Dana White claiming that’s the logical fight to make.

Speaking on UFC Tonight, Ferguson revealed that McGregor isn’t even his top target, he just wants him to vacate the title so he can fight fellow Californian Nate Diaz for the gold.

BATTLE OF CALIFORNIA

He said: “I mean s**t, vacate the belt right now.

“Drop it, leave it where it’s at and we’ll fight for the belt at International Fight Week [in July], straight up.

“I know a couple of heads out there. I know the only person that I’d like to go toe-to-toe with and who probably needs a lesson taught to is Nate Diaz. I would love to do that.

“For anybody else out there, they really don’t deserve a fight with me. For myself, for the fans, everybody would love to see that battle. Battle OF California, baby! Let’s do this.”

Woodley said what we’re all thinking, this is a fight fans would pay to watch as it freshens up the division again, especially with Nurmagomedov targeting a September return and nobody really knowing what’s going on with McGregor.

The Notorious didn’t give his featherweight title up easily, so there’s no chance he’ll do the same with the lightweight title.

However, UFC created an interim title for a fight that never materialised, so perhaps that’s the best avenue to go down, and it could be enough motivation for the Stockton fighter to get back inside of the Octagon.

Would you like to see Tony Ferguson fight Nate Diaz for the lightweight title? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.

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