Shortly after Tony Ferguson captured the UFC interim lightweight title with a submission defeat of Kevin Lee, UFC President Dana White claimed that Ferguson will be the next man to battle undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor. This claim from the UFC boss is a stark contradiction of the recurring rumors that McGregor’s next bout will be a trilogy fight with rival Nate Diaz.

If Ferguson is indeed the next man in line for the undisputed champ McGregor, he could very well come out on top. In fact, many people believe that Ferguson is an even tougher matchup for McGregor than Diaz is.

On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Ferguson jiu-jitsu coach Eddie Bravo weighed in on this possibility. In his opinion, it’s actually difficult to say whether Ferguson or Diaz is the harder fight for McGregor. All he knows is that Ferguson will be ready for the Irishman.

“Is Tony a worse matchup for McGregor than Nate Diaz? Maybe. That could be a possibility. I mean, Nate Diaz did beat McGregor already, so it’s really hard to predict. It’s very hard to predict. And I don’t like predicting fights. Can Tony beat McGregor? Hell yeah he can. Can he beat him on the feet? Hell yeah he can. Can he beat him on the ground? Hell yeah he can. But Conor can knock anybody out. He has tremendous power, so you don’t know how it’s going to play out, but we’re going to be prepared. That you can count on.”

Who do you think is the tougher fight for Conor McGregor? Nate Diaz, or Tony Ferguson?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/15/2017.