With sights set on UFC title, Conor McGregor wanted fight with Ricardo Lamas

LAS VEGAS – When Irish featherweight Conor McGregor (13-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), heard he was getting a new opponent at next month’s UFC Fight Night 26 event (formerly known as UFC on FOX Sports 1 1), he offered up an idea for UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby: top-ranked 145-pounder Ricardo Lamas (13-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC).

“I wanted Rircardo Lamas,” McGregor admitted Wednesday at a press luncheon in Las Vegas.

McGregor was originally slated to meet Andy Ogle at the event, which takes place on Aug. 17 at Boston’s TD Garden. When Ogle was forced to withdraw from the card, McGregor was in need of a new opponent.

For the 25-year-old Irishman, the logic was simple. Even after just one fight in the UFC, his focus is on winning the title. What better way to get there than to beat a man many believe is the division’s current No. 1 contender?

“I want the belt,” McGregor told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “The title is what I’m after.”

Unfortunately for McGregor, Shelby didn’t agree with the logic.

“Don’t be in a hurry, he was saying,” McGregor recalled.

Instead, McGregor was given a matchup with Max Holloway (7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC), and the pair now meets on the FOX Sports 1-televised preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 26. It’s an intriguing matchup and could provide a proper step in the right direction for McGregor. After all, the 21-year-old Holloway is coming off of a loss, but he had previously strung together three straight wins.

Meanwhile, McGregor has fought just once for the promotion, but it was a spectacular debut that saw him score a 67-second TKO win over Marcus Brimage at UFC on FUEL TV 9 and bag that evening’s $60,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus. The debut even wowed UFC President Dana White, who has admittedly become a McGregor fan, and the UFC boss even took the featherweight contender out for a steak dinner and a Ferrari-driven tour of Las Vegas.

McGregor said the experience opened his eyes to what may lie ahead if he plays his cards right.

“It was 5 o’clock in the morning, and I was still shadowboxing in the mirror,” McGregor said. “I just couldn’t sleep, thinking about everything.”

McGregor, who was trailed by an Irish filmmaker during the luncheon, knows he hasn’t made it just yet. But he also believes his time is rapidly approaching. And the 25-year-old isn’t one bit concerned about being “fed to the wolves” in the UFC’s 145-pound division. He believes his destiny calls for such a challenge.

“I understand what the UFC is saying, build it up slowly,” McGregor said. “But I want that Ferrari now.

“I’m a wolf. I’m the one doing the eating.”

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 26, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.