I mean i personally want and think that the Ferguson fight should be next. If it ends up that the Nate trilogy is the next fight because its the money fight it seems to me that the best way to make the eventual title unification fight more of a money fight is to build up the profile of the interim champ by having him fight on / co main event the card Conor fights on.
The reason the Nate trilogy far outweighs the Ferguson foght is very simple if you just look at it from a simple view.
The greatest boxer in the history of boxing just fought Conor McGregor in a boxing match. Did he just come out and outbox him like youd assume hed do? No. He openly admitted to playing defense and hoping Conor "punched himself out." And then, only when it was evident he was gassed, did Floyd attack Conor. Nate Diaz took the exact same approach in both of his fights vs Conor. He is so incredibly skilled my only chance is to save stamina and outlast him.
Thats literally the only way you can beat Conor. The greatest boxer in history wasmt even confident enough tooutbox him. So, it makes it where only guys who have a chin and stamina make for intriguing fights vs Conor.
Eddie Alvarez had stamina for days but got absolutely demolished vs Conor because he couldnt take the smacks. Thats what a Ferguson fight would be. 8 minutes of Conor smacking Ferguson arounduntil he ultimately cant take it anymore. Thats not gonna be good for us asviewers.
What will be good is a warrior like Nate with length who is willing to suffer brain damage for our viewing pleaisre and walk thru the shots to put up a fight.
If it is Conor vs Tony then i go back to thinking that Nate should take a fight on that card. Either sit around and wait for a trilogy fight with Conor or go out and take a fight and force one. Obviously there is some risk but there is also a risk of people losing interest if he refuses to take any other fight.
Id have to guess Conor gets an instant rematch. Out of Conor, Tony and UFC who wouldnt want for the rematch to take place.
THen create history and have ferguson and khabib on the conor vs nate card. First time ever the real belt and interim belt for the same weight class defended on same card
I don't think the interest loss thing is too bad. Everyone said that about Floyd/Pac and it sold 4.5 million.
Not apples to apples but still, Nate can wait this out for a little while longer. I just think his leverage isn't what he thinks it is. McGregor is the star, Nate's probably only adding like 10-15% more to McGregor PPV's at this point.