Kavanagh: Nate Diaz is McGregor's best challenge at 155 pounds

Some of the best and brightest lightweights will have to wait their turn to fight for the division's title if John Kavanagh has anything to say about it.

Conor McGregor's coach appeared on "The MMA Hour" on Monday to talk about the Irishman becoming a two-division champ at UFC 205 on Saturday with his win over Eddie Alvarez. The 155-pound division is now under McGregor's rule, and while there are no shortage of challengers, Kavanagh pointed to rival Nate Diaz as the most intriguing option.

Diaz and McGregor fought twice in 2016 at welterweight, though Diaz has spent the majority of his career at 155 pounds and McGregor is still the UFC's 145-pound champion. Each man holds a win over the other, and Kavanagh thinks that Diaz would be a worthy challenger even over white-hot fighters Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

"I think Nate would beat either Tony or Khabib," said Kavanagh. "I think he really turned a corner with the Michael Johnson fight. I think we saw a new version of him and then I think he looked fantastic in both Conor fights, Conor just bested him."

In the UFC's official rankings, both Ferguson (1) and Nurmagomedov (2) are positioned higher than Diaz (4).

Nurmagomedov also put on an impressive performance at UFC 205. He came back from early trouble to put a beatdown on Johnson, winning by third-round submission. After the fight, the Russian challenged McGregor, calling him "a chicken" and a product of company PR.

Kavanagh knows Nurmagomedov could be next - he just doesn't see him as a more compelling opponent than Diaz.

"Now, I understand Khabib is the No. 1 contender and it's probably going to be him if that's how the company works. But for me, interest-wise, the Nate fight would interest me greater," said Kavanagh. "If it's Tony, if it's Khabib, great. They're two fantastic fighters.

"A lot to learn in the preparation for them and both would be extremely interesting fighters for me to watch and problems to solve and to see Conor beating both of them and how he did it would be very interesting for me. But I do think Nate - not comfortably - would be quite a bit better than either of them."

The UFC has not arranged another fight for Diaz since his unanimous decision loss to McGregor at UFC 202 in August. He is facing a possible suspension for his involvement in a bottle-throwing brawl at a press conference prior to that bout.

Diaz did chime in on Saturday night with a cryptic message in recognition of McGregor's win: