“I’ve said it before – the Nate [Diaz] rematch interests me a lot because it’s 1-1 and [because of] how the styles match up,” Kavanagh told Submission Radio this week. “Almost on a par with that, not much difference will be the winner of Khabib and Ferguson this weekend. I think Khabib does it, so I think Khabib will be the winner. So Khabib will be the match-up out of that.
“Below that would be GSP [Georges St-Pierre]. Purely because GSP was an incredible fighter, [I’m a] big fan of him, I’ve learnt a lot from watching his fights, but it’s a long time since he’s fought and the game changes very, very quickly and I think Khabib is sort of like a better version of GSP. Although we don’t know, it’s hard to tell how GSP and Khabib would match up. But yeah, MMA-wise, Nate or almost on a par winner of Khabib-Ferguson.”
Diaz has certainly been champing at the bit for another shot at McGregor after losing a majority decision to him last August following his second-round submission over the current lightweight champion in their first fight this past March.
Diaz hasn’t seemed interested in any other fights being offered to him and he reportedly turned down a matchup with former champion Eddie Alvarez when the UFC came calling just recently.
While Diaz might be the top choice for Kavanagh, he admits that it’s hard to imagine a scenario where McGregor returns and doesn’t end up facing the winner of the fight between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson at UFC 209.
An interim title is up for grabs in the fight and whoever walks out with the belt will more than likely be gunning for McGregor whenever he returns to the UFC.
“I find it hard to imagine not seeing that. You know, even with Conor getting the — if and when the Mayweather fight was to happen and he got that out of the way — I know, like myself, I do believe his true love is free combat sports and there is no freer combat sport than mixed martial arts and he is the UFC lightweight champion,” Kavanagh said.
“He did only win it a couple of months ago, so he is the lightweight champion. So I can’t imagine him not fighting the winner of that (Nurmagomedov/Ferguson). We gotta see what happens with the Mayweather talks and all that, but yeah I do believe that will happen, yes.”