Stephen A. Smith sounds off on potential Conor McGregor-Islam Makhachev fight

With UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (26-1) running through most of his 155-pound challengers, some have called for former champ Conor McGregor (22-6) to be the next challenger for the 32-year-old Russian should he get past Michael Chandler on June 29.

And while any fight with McGregor’s name attached to it would certainly be a big pay-per-view draw, many, including ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, believe a striker-versus-grappler matchup such as McGregor-Makhachev isn’t in the UFC’s best interest.

“What we learned in [the Khabib Nurmagomedov] fight is that Conor McGregor has no business being in the Octagon against a grappler,” Smith said on “First Take” Monday morning. “Which Makhachev, this brother right here is something special. And he’s not going to try to strike against Conor McGregor. … I think it’s the worst possible fight we could possibly want to see.”

McGregor typically fares well against strikers (Donald Cerrone, Jose Aldo, Eddie Alvarez) and struggles against opponents with grappling backgrounds, with four of his six losses coming via submission.

The 35-year-old Irishman is especially susceptible to chokes — something Makhachev excels at. McGregor fell victim to rear-naked chokes against Nurmagomedov and Nick Diaz and an arm-triangle choke against Joseph Duffy back in 2010.