Conor McGregor could face Jorge Masvidal in his second fight of 2020, should he get past Donald Cerrone .
The former two-weight world champion takes on 'Cowboy' in Las Vegas on January 18, and has claimed he will fight three times next year.
And it appears that the wheels are already turning for his second bout of the year, with UFC megastar and 'BMF' champion Jorge Masvidal admitting that McGregor is a likely next opponent.
Speaking with Yahoo Sports, Masvidal said: "I’m the ticket at 170 pounds, so I’m going to go and get the biggest, best and toughest fights.
"It’s looking like we might fight Nick Diaz next, it’s looking like it might be Conor McGregor, obviously those fights come first because of the pay-cheque and everything it brings."
And according to UFC insider Ariel Helwani, McGregor wants to fight three times in 2020 to stay out of trouble.
It was confirmed this week at the Notorious will make his long-awaited return to the octagon against Donald Cerrone on January 18 .
But that is only the first part of a three-fight plan in the view of Helwani who believes the Crumlin man has regained his focus.
”Okay, so he has laid out this plan that he wants to fight three times next year,” Helwani said on SportsCenter.
“And he hasn’t done that in over three years as well, so it’s a pretty lofty goal. But he believes that when he is active, then he’s not getting distracted, he’s not getting in trouble.
"He’s very focused. And people are telling me right now that they haven’t seen him this focused in a very long time.”
Helwani added: ”You hear this a lot in the fight game, but he’s going to sleep early, he’s waking up early.
"“He wants to prove to everyone that thinks he’s shot that they are wrong. So he wants to fight January 18th - in fact, he wanted to fight in December but the UFC didn’t give him that opportunity.
"So he wanted to fight at the beginning of the year, then he wants to return towards spring / summer, maybe fight Jorge Masvidal or Nate Diaz.”
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