Mike Tyson has given some advice to Conor McGregor on who he should fight next.
McGregor is currently on a two-fight losing streak after suffering back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier. ‘Notorious’ and ‘The Diamond’ had their highly anticipated trilogy fight at UFC 264 in July of 2021, where the Irishman suffered a broken leg. Since then, he has been rehabbing and it’s expected he will return sometime by the end of this year or early next, but his next opponent remains uncertain.
For Mike Tyson, he believes McGregor needs to get three wins before he starts thinking about fighting any of the top guys.
“After a defeat, you should do a couple of fights to get your feet wet,” Tyson told Henry Cejudo on “The Fight Card” podcast (via MMAJunkie). “Conor, I think you should build your confidence up and go do what you do: win excitingly.”
One name that has been floated out for a potential opponent for Conor McGregor is Tony Ferguson. However, Tyson says that’s a tough fight and instead, he’d rather see the Irishman get three tune-up fights of sorts to get his confidence back.
“Well, that’s a tough fight,” Tyson said about McGregor fighting Ferguson. “He’s a warrior, regardless if he loses, He makes exciting fights. It’s hard to beat that guy. … No big-time guy, let him get three fights and build his confidence back up. Every fight the opponent goes to a higher level.”
According to Mike Tyson, he says Donald Cerrone was the exact fight McGregor needed after his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov and layoff. Now that he has struggled again and is on another layoff, he’d like to see the UFC match McGregor up with someone like that for three straight fights so the Irishman can get his confidence back.
“Even if he wins, he’s gonna get hurt in the next fight, and he can’t fight the next fight,” Tyson added about McGregor. “You get your experience down, three more fights, you feel good, the beat the last two guys are really qualified opponents, now you go back out there.”
Who would you like to see Conor McGregor fight in his return?