UFC News: Conor McGregor vs. Al Iaquinta Should Be Next, Coach Says

Al Iaquinta has set himself up for a money fight with Conor McGregor according to the former's head coach Ray Longo.

Iaquinta (14-4-1) got back to winning ways when he defeated Kevin Lee (17-4) via unanimous decision in their highly-anticipated rematch in the main event of UFC Milwaukee on Saturday night.

With Lee ranked as the No. 4 lightweight in the world heading into the fight, Iaquinta will likely leapfrog him in the rankings with just a few names above him now, McGregor being one of them.

The Irishman returned to the octagon at UFC 229 but would lose to Khabib Nurmagomedov via a fourth round neck crank submission in their title fight. McGregor and others have called for an immediate rematch but Iaquinta, who Nurmagomedov beat to win the lightweight title via unanimous decision, believed he was more deserving of a rematch, especially as he went the distance against the unbeaten Russian on a day's notice.

Longo agrees but would like to see the Long Island native face McGregor instead and earn a lucrative payday in the process.

“I’d really like to see him [Iaquinta] fight Conor next,” Longo told Luke Thomas on The MMA Hour. “I don’t think Conor deserves the Khabib rematch at all. It looks like they’re going to give [Tony] Ferguson Khabib, which is 100 percent fair. That makes fair sense, not everything is fair sense, it’s money sense."

“But I’d like to see Al get a big money fight against a great guy who can bring a lot of eyeballs to pay-per-view. I think that would be great. I think Al deserves it and I think that’s a great matchup. I’d love to see it and I’d love to be a part of it.”

Another option is Ferguson. While the former interim lightweight champion is next in line to face Nurmagomedov, things are uncertain in the lightweight division with the UFC 229 brawl punishments still yet to be doled out.

Iaquinta also spoke of Ferguson being a potential opponent after his win over Lee, and Longo is fascinated by that contest.

“That’s a great fight. I got Ferguson up there,” Longo added. “Ferguson is unbelievable, so that’s a great challenge for Al, but I think Ferguson does deserve the fight with Khabib. I’m just going based on that."

“Al’s going to take any fight, I think he deserves a big fight for sure either way it goes. I think Ferguson, the Khabib fight is the way to go because Ferguson, what else can that guy do in the division? I think it’s only fair to give him the title fight. But if it has to be Al for some reason then that’s fine, that’s great.”