Following his teammate's loss at UFC 196, Gunnar Nelson is convinced that Conor McGregor's future lies in the lightweight division.

In a lengthy interview with Submission Radio, Nelson explained that McGregor's loss to Diaz was due to a tactical issue and not a technical one. According to the welterweight fighter, had McGregor not "punched himself out," he would have likely come out victorious.

However, while hindsight is 20/20, Nelson is keen to look towards the future, where he believes McGregor will compete in the lightweight division.

"Yeah I would have liked to see him stay in lightweight. I think that's the more natural weight for him and I think he would have felt a lot better, you know, felt a lot better before his fights and in the camp and not having to worry about all that major weight cut. So I think it's more natural for him. But you know, it is what it is, he makes the cut and he does it every time and it doesn't seem to affect him much in the fight. But you know me, I'm not a big believer or supporter of this type of stuff, these heavy, big weight cuts. I'd like to see it taken completely out and I'd like to see people just going into the fights in their walking-around weight. You know, people just fighting other people that are the same weight, but they're not cutting the weight. It seems like a dumb situation to me. Because some guy does it then everybody has to do it."

While Nelson would like to see his teammate move up as soon as possible, he made it clear that the Irishman can still make the featherweight cut a few more times.

"I know he can do it a few more times, definitely. You know, if he needs to he can, but I would like to see him go up and have a little bit, you know, a nicer career when it comes to this. And I think it will be a longer one and it be a more pleasant journey. It would just be a more real journey. Yeah it's just my perspective on this whole weight-cutting thing. I think it's not great for Martial Arts either, cause it just creates this obsession about being bigger. You know, that the bigger guy always beats the small guys, you always wanna focus on being bigger and stronger. And I understand it, it's definitely a factor, but I just think it's become too much of an obsession for everyone in this game and I don't like it."