Conor McGregor commends UFC Vegas 14 headliners, accepts Rafael dos Anjos' call-out: 'I'm in for sure'
Conor McGregor wasted little time in responding to former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos' call out after UFC Vegas 14.
Dos Anjos was successful in his return to the lightweight division, defeating Paul Felder by Split Decision in the main event of UFC Vegas 14 last Saturday.
The former 155-pound ruler was dominant from start to finish, as he flexed his high-level grappling to ground Felder and grind out the decision win on two of the three judges' scorecards.
After the fight, dos Anjos took the opportunity to call out fellow former UFC lightweight king Conor McGregor.
"If Khabib is really retired, it will leave the division wide open, and if you look to the contenders, I think only me and Conor, we are the only real champions in that division. Everybody else is all interim champions, so I think if the division is open, I think me and Conor is the fight to make."
Conor McGregor appeared to be keeping a close eye on the dos Anjos-Felder fight, because it didn't take long for him to respond to the Brazilian veteran's call-out.
"Respect to both men for making this fight and event happen tonught. Good fight! I'm in for sure," McGregor said.
It won't be as easy as that however, as McGregor is currently scheduled to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 in January.
"The Notorious" made note of that in a succeeding tweet, but reiterated that he's down to rekindle an old rivalry against dos Anjos.
"Dustin first, but I'm down for it all. Throwback to this classic lol," McGregor said while sharing photos of his stare-down with dos Anjos at the press conference for UFC 197 back in 2016.
If Conor McGregor gets past Dustin Poirier, does he finally get Rafael dos Anjos next?
Conor McGregor, Rafael dos Anjos, and the birth of "Red Panty Night"
Conor McGregor and Rafael dos Anjos have been on a collision course before, but the two never actually got to share the cage.
Scheduled to meet at UFC 197 (which was later re-numbered to UFC 196) in 2016, McGregor was slated to challenge dos Anjos for the UFC lightweight championship. Dos Anjos had to pull out due to a broken foot, however. McGregor would instead face Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout, while dos Anjos ended up losing the UFC lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez later that year. McGregor went on to defeat Alvarez and take the UFC lightweight championship anyway.
Prior to the title bout, McGregor and dos Anjos already had a bit of an altercation, albeit verbally, with dos Anjos calling McGregor an 'easy fight'.
McGregor responded with the now-iconic 'Red Panty Night' promo