Conor McGregor should hope Dustin Poirier can dethrone lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov when the pair clash next month.
This is the view of retired middleweight Michael Bisping who thinks a rematch with Poirier is the Crumlin man's best hope of regaining the UFC title.
“If I’m McGregor, he’s probably hoping and praying that Poirier beats Khabib in Abu Dhabi,” Bisping said during a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast.
“Because if Poirier beats Khabib, obviously we all know Conor has that massive win over Poirier. He did it very, very easily. He made short work of Poirier back in the day.
"Alright, it was at 145, it was a long time ago, but even still, if Poirier wins there’s a possibility of setting up that rematch. That’s his shot and easier shot at the title.”
Bisping struggles to see McGregor getting a rematch with Nurmagomedov who beat the 31-year-old by submission in October 2018.
He believes a likelier possibility is another fight between Poirier and McGregor who went to war in September 2014 with the latter winning by a first round stoppage.
“I don’t know if he gets that fight,” Bisping said. “Even if Khabib wins I don’t think he gets the rematch. The Poirier fight, definitely, I can see them doing that.
“I don’t [see them doing the Khabib rematch]. From the UFC’s perspective, they’re going to do it because it was the biggest pay-per-view they’ve ever done and the rematch is going to be even bigger.
"Simple as that. Rematches sell, especially with the amount of bad blood, especially with what happened after the fight outside the Octagon last time. The rematch will be huge. I just think Conor has to win another fight first. But at the same time, money does talk. . .
“Maybe. Maybe. Because A) as I said before, the numbers were massive so why wouldn’t they want to do that again? B) The public will buy it. They will 100 percent lap that up. It all depends on whether Khabib gives it to him. And honestly, Khabib probably wants to. There is a good possibility.”
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