Conor McGregor: ‘Realistically I should be a two-weight UFC world champion’

Conor McGregor made history at UFC 196, though exactly not the type of history he counted on.

The epic clash between McGregor and Nate Diaz drew several of the best financial numbers in UFC history, however McGregor lost out on his chance to become the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion when lightweight titleholder Rafael dos Anjos withdrew with a foot injury less than two weeks prior to fight night.

McGregor instead fought Diaz as a late replacement and suffered a stunning second-round submission loss, while dos Anjos dropped his lightweight belt in his subsequent title defense courtesy of a first-round knockout at the hands of Eddie Alvarez. However, months after the fact, McGregor remains confident he would have accomplished the same result as Alvarez had the Brazilian avoided injury.

“Realistically I should be a two-weight UFC world champion,” McGregor said Friday on a UFC 202 conference call. “If I fought Rafael dos Anjos, if he didn’t pussy out of that last one and showed up, the shots I cracked Nate with in the first eight minutes of that [fight] would’ve KO’d Rafael dos Anjos stiff. That’s no question. I would be sitting here right now as a two-weight world champion.

“But I don’t dwell on …

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