UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal has expressed interest in fighting Conor McGregor next, following his record-setting 5-second knockout over Ben Askren at UFC 239 in Las Vegas.
When asked for his thoughts on the potential matchup, however, UFC president Dana White cut to the chase.
"Hell no," White told TMZ. "Masvidal is too big for Conor. There's plenty of fights for [Masvidal] in his weight division without Conor. He's too big for Conor. [McGregor] doesn't belong at 170 [pounds]. He's got the balls to fight at 170, but he doesn't belong there."
According to Masvidal's (34-13) agent, Abe Kawa, Masvidal is only willing to face McGregor or welterweight champion Kamaru Usman next. Usman does not have a fight scheduled at the moment.
McGregor (21-4) is a former 145- and 155-pound UFC champion. He has fought as high as 170 pounds twice, in back-to-back fights against Nate Diaz in 2016. He has fought only once in the UFC in the past 32 months -- a submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018.
According to White, the UFC expects McGregor to return either later this year or early in 2020. McGregor has publicly called for a rematch against Nurmagomedov, who currently holds the 155-pound championship, but White has hinted McGregor will likely have to fight someone else.
Nurmagomedov (27-0) is scheduled to defend his title against interim champion Dustin Poirier (25-5) at UFC 242 on Sept. 7. The result of that fight could affect McGregor's next move.
"I think [McGregor] will be back this year or early next year," White said. "We'll see how this whole thing plays out in September. No, [McGregor won't get a rematch with Nurmagomedov], but it will shake a lot of things up whoever wins that fight."
