Conor McGregor is coming off two consecutive losses to UFC lightweight title challenger Dustin Poirier, but he is still angling for the top prize in the division.
McGregor (22-6) took to Twitter on Monday in an attempt to will a UFC title shot into existence, and scrub a loss to Poirier out of reality. McGregor asserted that his trilogy fight with Poirier at UFC 264 in July has yet to reach its conclusion, despite a first-round TKO loss on the record books. The rubber match was waved off at the end of round one after McGregor suffered a gruesome leg injury while throwing a kick.
"Hi lads, here goes," McGregor said in a since-deleted tweet captured by MMA Junkie. "Clicks and the like. Your boss and whatnot. The Mac. Santy Claus. I'm facing whoever the f--- has that LW title next. Deal with it. Take off your goggles and mark the trilogy 'unfinished.' Deal with that too. The rest mentioned, after this. Deal. With. It."
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McGregor received an immediate UFC lightweight title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018, albeit under different circumstances. McGregor was the former champion, having vacated the title due to inactivity while boxing Floyd Mayweather for a nine-figure payday. Isolating his UFC record at the time, McGregor was coming off a second-round TKO win over Eddie Alvarez to capture the lightweight crown in 2016. He was also 9-1 in his UFC run at the time and avenged the Nate Diaz-sized blemish on his record. By contrast, "The Notorious" is now 1-3 in mixed martial arts (1-4 if you include boxing) in the last five years.
The irony is, should Poirier defeat Charles Oliveira for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 269 on Dec. 11, McGregor would be well-poised for an immediate title shot.
UFC president Dana White previously expressed a desire for a fourth Poirier-McGregor fight after the unsatisfactory conclusion to the trilogy.
"The fight didn't get finished," the UFC president said at the UFC 264 post-fight press conference. "You can't have a fight finish that way. We'll see how this whole thing plays out. Who knows how long Conor's out, so Poirier will do his thing until Conor's ready."