Blake Harrison believes Paddy Pimblett is the only UFC lightweight who Conor McGregor ‘could’ beat on his MMA return.
McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since breaking his leg in July 2021 against Dustin Poirier.
The defeat marked McGregor’ s second to Poirier in the same year, after he was stopped by the American at UFC 257 six months prior.
Pimblett, meanwhile, is undefeated in Dana White‘s promotion and is emerging as one of the organisation’s top lightweights.
He made his UFC debut in 2021 and quickly became one of the promotion’s biggest stars due to his larger than life character and unique personality.
The 30-year-old submitted Bobby Green at UFC Manchester in July, which marked his sixth successive UFC victory and followed a career-high win over MMA icon Tony Ferguson.
Actor, comedian and talkSPORT pundit Harrison believes Pimblett is the only opponent McGregor ‘could’ beat, should he ever make a return to MMA‘s biggest league.
“Conor is no spring chicken anymore,” Harrison said on the first-ever episode of talkMMA.
“And having been out of the cage for so long – and there’s certain videos out there on the internet you can look at – he doesn’t look like he’s in the best mindset and shape and all these things…
“I’m looking down the rankings at lightweight. There’s not a single fight in the whole top 15 that I would favour him in.
“I do think that a big fight you could make that he could win, but probably wouldn’t. But it would be huge. It’s Paddy Pimblett.”
Islam Makhachev is the current UFC lightweight champion, with Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje, Poirier and Max Holloway all in the top five.
Dan Hooker, Michael Chandler and Mateusz Gamrot make up the following three spots, while Pimblett is currently ranked No.13.
Alex Ritchings, host of talkSPORT’s new MMA show, didn’t agree with Harrison in terms of the matchup.
“I don’t disagree that it would be massive,” he said.
“When you hear it, you’re like, that’s crazy. But then if the UFC actually booked it, it’s not actually that crazy.”
Harrison responded: “What do you think is crazy about it? In all seriousness.”
And Ritchings replied: “Well, just because the mismatch in terms of profile between the two guys and what they’ve done and achieved.
“But there’s a mismatch between Conor and anyone,” Harrison hit back with.
“Paddy has not lost yet,” Ritchings added. “Right. So he’s still at a position. He’s just fought Tony Ferguson.
“He’s still at a position where a veteran fight against a legacy guy, a former champ, does make a ton of sense for Paddy.
“And for Conor, it’s like, well, who else? We’ve just talked ourselves out of like 20 opponents for Conor.”
Harrison and Ritchings then both agreed that Pimblett is arguably the biggest star McGregor could fight and still be the favourite on the betting lines.
“Outside of Paddy, genuinely, the only people I’m really interested in Conor fighting is Tony Ferguson and Nate Diaz again,” Harrison said.
“Yeah. Like there’s not fights out there that I look at for Conor and I go, oh, I want to see that fight…
“If I never see Conor McGregor fight again, I’m perfectly fine with it.”
Pimblett has previously discussed a fight with McGregor, saying he would ‘of course’ say yes if offered the opportunity.