It’s red panty night in the Diaz household, as it’s official; Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz is your UFC 196 main event.
It’s been a busy day in Mixed Martial Arts. This morning, the UFC confirmed that
Lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos had pulled out of his title bout against challenger McGregor with a broken foot.
To McGregor’s credit, just because the champion wouldn’t be making it to the cage, didn’t mean the challenger would abstain.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports, UFC President Dana White spoke about McGregor’s attitude to the late change in opponent.
“I swear to God, he said, ‘I’ll fight anyone,’” White said. “He just doesn’t give a [expletive]. People talk about this strained relationship between us and Conor, and he has a different style than I’ve ever seen, but I have never seen anyone like Conor. The closest was Chuck Liddell, but we’ve never had one like Conor. You think he’s not hurt? But when he says he’s going to fight, he’s going to fight no matter what.”
With McGregor unwilling or un-wanting to postpone his appearance, the UFC went looking for a replacement opponent. Que social media going into overdrive. Various fighters and managers started publicly clamouring for the McGregor bout, posting on Twitter and Instagram to announce their desires at the cocky Irishman.
First up was Donald Cerrone. Having coming out fresh from his fight on Sunday night, Cerrone began instantly attempting to lower his weight, anticipating an appearance at 155lbs, a weight class below his bout on Sunday.
Next was Anthony Pettis. The former Lightweight champion, who has long been paired up with McGregor in ‘dream fight’ lists, announced his interest in the bout, with his coach Duke Roufus campaigning on his behalf.
Which brings us to the eventual winner of the McGregor lottery, Nate Diaz.
Diaz emerged as one of the favourites to receive the call early on in the day, with him 
having forced his way into public awareness after an expletive-ridden rant directed at McGregor on live television after his most recent fight, an impressive win over Michael Johnson.
White tonight appeared on ESPN’s Sportscenter, where he confirmed it was indeed going to be McGregor vs. Diaz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt6kmem3hbc
Interestingly, White revealed that Diaz was not actually the UFC’s first port of call.
“Let me tell you,” White said. “There was a long list of people that had said they wanted to fight Conor McGregor. We called Jose Aldo, Jose Aldo turned the fight down. We called Frankie Edgar, Frankie Edgar turned the fight down.”
Then, White dropped another surprise to add to the days repeated confusion. The fight won’t actually be taking place at McGregor’s scheduled 155lbs. Due to weight cutting difficulties, the UFC have made the fight a Welterweight bout, with it taking place at 170lbs.
There is something important to note here. Conor McGregor is the UFC Featherweight champion, and is moving up two weight divisions. It may not be the same as fighting for a second belt, but it is nevertheless unprecedented.
The entire issue has eerie feelings of Deja Vu, feeling very similar to the main event of UFC 189, when McGregor was scheduled to face Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight title. Eleven days before that bout, Aldo pulled out with a broken rib, causing the UFC to scramble for a replacement.
McGregor, who has had four out of eight scheduled opponents withdraw from bouts, appears, as usual, unfazed.
In fact, MMAFighting reporter Ariel Helwani revealed that it was in fact McGregor who asked for the fight to take place at 170lbs. According to Helwani, the UFC were going back and forth with Diaz over what weight he attempt to reach, until McGregor said “make it 170. Tell him to get comfortable.”
Expect more of that sort of talk, as the two are scheduled to appear at open workouts tomorrow. Both are not known for remaining reserved. In fact, it’s much of that talk that entices fans to the inevitable skeptical of the two swearing at each other in the ring.
If the entire issue has proven anything it’s that nothing is ever simple with Conor McGregor. Nor is it ever, ever, boring.
