Conor McGregor has been told he won't fight for the UFC lightweight title if rival Dustin Poirier beats champion Charles Oliviera.
The top contenders do battle at UFC 269 tonight, with Poirier riding a wave of momentum after two stoppage wins over the Dubliner this year.
And as McGregor recovers from a broken tibia in his July loss to 'The Diamond', he insists that he can walk straight into the title picture if Poirier captures gold.
But according to UFC legend Chael Sonnen, the former two-time champ is unlikely to get another tilt at the title and if Poirier does triumph any hopes McGregor had of a third title reign are over.
"No, I don’t think so – I really don’t," Sonnen said on The MMA Hour when asked if he thinks McGregor will fight for a UFC title again.
“Look, if you ever have a No. 1 guy, and he slides down to No. 4, he slides down to No. 5, he’s never getting his spot back. And that’s across the board in sport.
"Now Conor has already done — much like Jon Jones, in fairness — he’s already done a lot of things that no other man can do.
"So I’m very open to the idea. I just know that Conor lost a level of discipline, it appeared, when he got to a different position in life, to a different status.
"It looked like he lost some discipline from where I was sitting.
“Now it’s not a choice. It was a choice to go to the gym and train hard back when he was healthy, and he didn’t do enough of it. Now, it’s not a choice.
"And I can tell you no human being can get better at something by not doing it. I think that Conor is still wonderful. I think he’s got a very special place.
"It’s not only within the sport, which is at the very top, but also within the rankings, this a damn good fighter.
"But you’re talking about a ‘55-pounder, which is the hardest and deepest division this sport has ever seen. Not just the organization, the industry as a whole — 155 is the deepest that it comes."
He added: "Conor’s pretty set on fighting Dustin Poirier.
“If Poirier beats Oliveira, as the oddsmakers think he’s going to do, I don’t think there’s a scenario where Conor comes back, even for a grudge match, into a title fight. That’s a tough sell.”
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