UFC featherweight Conor McGregor's win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 178 was, by all accounts, impressive and important. According to UFC President Dana White, it could also be just the thing that puts McGregor in front of the winner of UFC 179's featherweight title bout between champion Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.

"Here's the thing: If you go down the list, every one of those guys has fought Jose Aldo already," White said to UFC.com on Thursday. "Conor hasn't. So who do you line up next for the champ other than Conor? Everybody else has fought him."

White previously confirmed at the UFC 178 post-fight press conference that McGregor will be in attendance on October 25th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the featherweight title bout.

As White referenced in his statement on Thursday, other top contenders in the division have either fights lined up or have previously been defeated by Aldo. Those names include Cub Swanson (who faces Frankie Edgar in November), Edgar himself, Ricardo Lamas (who faces Dennis Bermudez in November) and Chang Sung Jung. McGregor has yet to face Aldo.

White also discussed a tweet by McGregor that suggested the Irish featherweight was going to jump to lightweight to face Diego Sanchez at UFC 180 in Mexico in November. The UFC President confirmed McGregor asked for the bout, but says he unequivocally denied the request.

"So Lorenzo (Fertitta) and I went to dinner with him last night, and he said he wants to fight Diego Sanchez in Mexico at 155. I said, ‘You're nuts. No way, we'll get you a fight. You'll be fighting soon enough.' The kid just wants to fight," he said. "He said him and Diego have been talking back and forth for a while and he wanted to fight him. We basically told him no and he went out and put that on Twitter anyway."