Conor McGregor reveals the fight he wished he’d taken before boxing Floyd Mayweather

Yesterday Conor McGregor celebrated the four year anniversary of his victory over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. That night—on November 12, 2016—McGregor made history by clinching the UFC lightweight belt and becoming the first fighter to simultaneously hold two UFC championship titles.

When McGregor beat Alvarez he was coming off his two-fight series with Nate Diaz, in which he lost the first bout (by submission at UFC 196 in March 2016) and won the second (by decision at UFC 202 in August 2016).

Those fights came a few months after McGregor beat Jose Aldo, via 13 second KO, to win the UFC featherweight crown.

After beating Alvarez, the somewhat active McGregor went on hiatus from MMA; preferring instead to battle Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the boxing ring. Over two years would pass between McGregor beating Alvarez and then him taking on Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in 2018.

After he lost to Nurmagomedov fans would have to wait a year-and-a-half before seeing the Irishman compete again; this time at UFC 245 this January, where he stopped Donald Cerrone.

Yesterday, McGregor revealed a little regret over the way his career was plotted out since the Alvarez win. On Twitter the ‘Notorious’ one stated that he should have taken another MMA fight before jumping into boxing.

“Currently watching [Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson 1] on BT Sport,” wrote McGregor. “I should have went for that treble real quick. Pre Floyd. Ah well, the game is still young.”

Woodley vs. Thompson 1 happened on the same card that McGregor won the lightweight title. The fight ended in a draw meaning Woodley defended his UFC welterweight championship. Woodley would go on to defend his title three times (versus Thompson again, Demian Maia and Darren Till), before losing out to current 170 lb champ Kamaru Usman.

Had McGregor challenged Woodley for the welterweight title McGregor would have had an opportunity to be the first and only triple-champion the UFC has ever seen.

After McGregor made his comment online, the man who would have stood between McGregor and such an accomplishment piped in.

“Shoulda woulda wouldn’t have,” remarked Woodley.

Depending on who you believe McGregor is either booked to fight or about to be booked to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 in January.