Nate Diaz Vs Conor McGregor Confirmed for UFC 200 – Breaking MMA News
By JM “Shade” Daguio
The MMA world is on a whirlwind as the Ultimate Fighting Championship confirmed that Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor will headline UFC’s marquee card in July. Although the fight was all but confirmed, fans still speculate on what McGregor’s decision would be; some predict he’d stay at 145 to defend his belt or fight Diaz again but at 155 lbs. Today however, all rumors were confirmed.
Diaz will get the “A-side” of the fight banner due to his win, both fighters will also face again at 170 lbs. McGregor hinted after his loss that he wanted a rematch, he wanted to get it back. “I think I’d like to see that, yea? I mean, it’s one that interests me, most certainly, you know, when I look at the fight I was winning the fight. I won the first round and a half, I feel. I’d love to get that one back. We’ll see how it goes. Money talks. Life is good.” McGregor said.
The UFC clearly saw the potential of a rematch since the first one did so well and got within the ballpark of 1.5 million pay-per-view buys. As UFC President Dana White said: “These are things that captures people’s imaginations, that’s why the thing does 1.5 million pay-per-view buys, cause it captures the imagination of fight fans and then when it lives up to the building, when it lives up to what it was supposed to be.”
White also revealed that he and UFC CEO/Owner Lorenzo Fertitta tried to convince McGregor to back down 145 lbs. and defend his belt but the Irishman was insistent on getting his revenge. White also revealed that also wanted the fight at 155 so as to level the playing field versus McGregor since McGregor had conditioning problems at 170. McGregor would not have it, he wanted to win in the weightclass that he lost.
“Obviously, Lorenzo and I tried to argue with him and say, ‘Let’s go back down to ’45 and defend your title, or if you really want the Diaz fight that bad, do it at ’55.’ But he wants to fight at 170. Even his coach, [John] Kavanagh, tried to get him to get off this rematch and off the 170-pound fight, but it’s what he wanted. And he’s going to get it.”
UFC 200 will also showcase a rematch between Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo for the Interim Featherweight Title, the winner will face McGregor whether or not he defeats Diaz. “Win, lose or draw in this fight against Nate Diaz, he will go in and fight either Jose or Frankie, whoever wins at [UFC] 200.” White said.
Aldo and Edgar already fought before with Aldo edging out Edgar in a closely contested fight. Other matchups were confirmed by the UFC including former heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne, Joe Lauzon vs. Diego Sanchez and Takanori Gomi vs. Jim Miller.
UFC 200 is shaping up to be a stacked, sure-fire pay-per-view monster it’s hyped up to be, hopefully within 4 months time there would be zero major injuries, if it all falls into place, this card would be the best of the year and can only be toppled by the UFC New York event slated for November.
UFC 200 will be held in Las Vegas on July 9th.
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