A leading MMA analyst believes Conor McGregor's next fight is most likely to be at welterweight and a potential showdown with Jorge Masvidal.
McGregor, 31, returned to winning ways with a 40-second demolition of Donald Cerrone in January.
That fight was at 170lbs, and despite recently calling out the biggest names in the lightweight division, former fighter Chael Sonnen thinks it is at welterweight where the Dubliner's short-term future lies at the very least.
He told Sky Sports: "Conor is a lot of fun. If you were to rewind the tape a year ago, he was doing the same stuff. And I found it very annoying. The reports were he wasn't in the gym.
"He certainly wasn't licensed anywhere. So if he was going to come back, if you call a guy out and not willing to step into it, I don't particularly love that kind of stuff," said Sonnen.
"Conor McGregor means it right now. He will fight Oscar de la Hoya. He's not kidding! He will go out there, do his best to butcher up Justin Gaethje, he'll give Dustin Poirier a rematch. Conor is spreading the venom around.
"I'm just not convinced he's going back to 155lb. If we're to see Gaethje taking on Khabib, I tend to believe that just pushes the calendar out for Conor. I think Conor is looking for something else to do. I think that's where Jorge Masvidal possibly comes into play, the Nate Diaz trilogy comes into play, I'm just not convinced that Conor's next fight will be at 155lb."
Sonnen can see McGregor climbing the weight classes and confirming his status as one of the sport's all-time greats.
"I think he's going to fight at 170! I think you could have an argument that Conor is the No 1 contender at 170! If they [Kamaru] Usman and Jorge Masvidal [fight], and I hope they do, I hope that all gets worked out, we're just seeing the gamesmanship, I'm think that's really the right fight to do, I'm not sure you can't say Conor's not next in line!
"There's a number of good arguments. Leon Edwards comes to mind, you've always got T-Wood (Tyrone Woodley) in there, Colby Covington, Conor's name is just as good as anybody I just threw out! They guy's won three world championships. He diminishes himself.
"Conor comes out and tells everyone he's the champ-champ. He's a champ-champ-champ! He's won so many damn world championships, he forgot about the interim title!
"I was there the night he beat Chad Mendez. I was there when they put that around his waist. He's got three world championships!
"Don't tell me Conor McGregor doesn't matter, he does!"
