Conor McGregor is ready for his UFC return, and Tony Ferguson is in line for the fight

Conor McGregor wants to fight again this year, UFC President Dana White said late Saturday night, identifying Tony Ferguson as the ideal opponent.

The Costa Mesa fighter became interim lightweight champion Saturday night at UFC 216 by submitting Kevin Lee by triangle choke in the third round, then called out the longtime lightweight champion from Ireland.

“Tony’s the interim champion. Conor’s the champion. That’s the fight that has to happen,” White told reporters after Ferguson won his 10th consecutive UFC fight, improving to 23-3.

“Tony keeps coming forward and Conor’s awesome. There’s no way it’s not a great fight.”

The date to accomplish a meeting by the end of the calendar year is Dec. 30 at UFC 219 in Las Vegas.

“I’m not injured. Let’s go tonight,” Ferguson said. “I’m fresh. I’m ready to go back to [training] Monday.”

Ferguson smartly banked on the belief that the Lee would begin to fatigue as the fight wore on, after needing to drop significant weight for Friday’s weigh-in.

“I wanted to demonstrate to everyone that I’m a full, complete MMA fighter,” Ferguson said of landing kicks against Lee, then winning even though Lee was atop him in the third round.

That elevation skill, by Ferguson’s thinking, leaves McGregor next.

After winning the lightweight belt in November, McGregor took a break to await the birth of his son, then he boxed Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Aug. 26 in a lucrative boxing match, losing by technical knockout in the 10th round.

“I’m saving my good material” for McGregor, Ferguson said. “If Conor’s next … I’ll ankle pick him. He’ll be running away. I’ll finish him.”

While McGregor is also believed to be interested in a trilogy fight against Nate Diaz at 155 pounds, Diaz may be pricing himself out of the bout, and White said, “nobody” is discussing Diaz for McGregor’s next bout.

Ferguson theorized: “The boy’s scared. He’s not mentioned my name one time. But I don’t care anymore. This is chess and this is check. He has nowhere to run. He can set [the belt] down, or run away.”

Lee (16-3) said dropping 19 pounds less than 24 hours before Friday’s weigh-in and battling through a staph infection he said he kept secret was “too much to handle … but Tony Ferguson was the better fighter tonight.”

Lee said he’s strongly considering a move up to welterweight (170 pounds), but also pushed for the formation of 165-pound weight class.

Ferguson’s ascent to a belt arrived minutes after flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (27-2-1) broke the UFC record for most consecutive successful title defenses (11) in the night’s co-main event.

“It’s nice not to have Anderson Silva’s name next to mine,” Johnson said after winning his 13^th consecutive UFC fight.

Johnson’s historic victory came by a stunning armbar submission of No.3-rated flyweight Ray Borg.

“I shifted his weight. I was like, ‘Got you.’ I grunted and threw him up and kept squeezing and squeezing,” Johnson said of his seemingly unprecedented throw of Borg that was quickly followed by Johnson grabbing Borg’s arm, setting up the finish.

“Obviously, I’m not in the sport to take concussions or blows. [My] skill set is to move fluidly … I look at my opponent to see what they’re good at and take it away from them and then I look for the submission or finish.”

White said Johnson is the best UFC fighter of all time.

Borg almost applauded Johnson’s creativity. “It was sneaky. It stunk being on the receiving end of it.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire