Conor McGregor will fight Nate Diaz at UFC 196 on 5 March
after the current lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos dropped out of their
bout with a foot injury.
The UFC president, Dana White, announced the 170lb matchup
(at welterweight) after a day of frantic shuffling.
Dos Anjos (24-7) was forced out of the fight after injuring
a foot in training in his native Brazil. McGregor (19-2) won the 145lb
featherweight title in December and the Irishman hoped to hold the 155lb
lightweight belt simultaneously.
Diaz (18-10) is not a title contender but the brawler from
Stockton, California, is one of the UFC’s most popular fighters in his weight
class. Diaz lost a decision to Dos Anjos last year but also beat Michael
Johnson in December in a thrilling lightweight bout.
With less than two weeks for Diaz to cut weight, the
fighters agreed to meet at the welterweight limit in the UFC 196 main event.
The bantamweight champion Holly Holm will meet Miesha Tate on the pay-per-view
card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Diaz and his older brother, Nick, are rivalled only by
McGregor as mixed martial arts’ most eloquent trash-talkers and the UFC 196
fighters are already off to an entertaining start.
While fans speculated about McGregor’s new opponent, Nate
Diaz tweeted: “He’s going to have to get on his knees and beg …”
Diaz was echoing previously boastful social-media comments
from McGregor, who has said he wants his future opponents to line up “on their
knees with their hands out. I want them to beg” for the payday that comes with
fighting him.
White detailed the promotion’s hustle to fill the matchup
with McGregor in an interview on ESPN’s SportsCenter, saying the former
champions José Aldo and Frankie Edgar turned down the short-notice fight. Edgar
is thought to be injured, while the short preparation time was not enough for
Aldo, who was knocked out by McGregor in 13 seconds in December.
White said Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and the former champions
Anthony Pettis and BJ Penn and other fighters were willing to take the bout but
the UFC chose Diaz.
McGregor has boasted of his intention to win belts in
multiple weight classes and the UFC could be entertaining the possibility of
matching McGregor against the welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at its
landmark UFC 200 show on 9 July in Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena.
