Eddie Alvarez believes Conor McGregor could 'put away' Tony Ferguson if the two were to face each other.
Ferguson will face Justin Gaethje at the rearranged UFC 249 next month, with the winner of that bout set to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight belt later in the year.
McGregor looks certain to face one of the above three fighters at some stage in the future and Alvarez believes he would beat Ferguson and Gaethge but lose to Nurmagomedov.
He told The Score MMA:“I think Conor would put Tony away. I’d like to see him fight Gaethje, but I’m off the belief he beats Gaethje, but I would like to see the fight. I’d still like to see it. I don’t like the style matchup for him with Khabib. I don’t think he has enough experience in that realm to overcome Khabib at any point.”
Alvarez, who lost the lightweight title to McGregor in 2016, would like to see the Dubliner go back to boxing for his next fight.
He said: "I’d probably be more interested to see him box than to see him fight.”
He added: “He did a lot better against Mayweather than what I thought he would do.”
McGregor hinted at a return to boxing prior to his UFC return against Donald Cerrone earlier this year.
He told ESPN: "I would be open to other boxing bouts. We were actually close to signing [a deal with] Manny.
"There's been talks about the fight with Manny. There was an offer made on that."
He added: "I'd like to box Paulie [Malignaggi] as well. Why not? That's a bit of buzz, Paulie in a boxing bout.
"I want to box again. I will box again. I want to get a boxing world title. A boxing title is something [I want]."
