Burly Brazilian UFC titleholder Rafael dos Anjos suffered a broken foot in training, forcing him to pull out of the richest fight of his professional career, a champion-versus-champion bout against Conor McGregor.
UFC officials confirmed the widely speculated rumour on Wednesday morning. And as soon as word got out that McGregor needed an opponent for the marquee UFC 196 main event in Las Vegas next Sunday, a host of fighters began lobbying to compete in the multi-million dollar bout.
The UFC eventually settled on lightweight action fighter Nate Diaz to join the star-studded double main event, which is bolstered by a UFC women’s bantamweight championship bout between Holly Hom and Miesha Tate.
The McGregor versus Diaz bout is set to take place in the 170-pound division – 25-pounds above the weight class McGregor currently holds championship gold in.
“I swear to God, he said, ‘I’ll fight anyone.’ He just doesn’t give a f***.” UFC president Dana White told Yahoo Sports, speaking of his most bankable pay-per-view star.
“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.”
As we begin the 2016 season, the five-foot-nine Dubliner is re-defining success in the elite mixed martial arts promotion.
For years, we were conditioned to believe that the pinnacle of success was for a dominant champion to lord over a division, buzzsawing through every contender in his path.
McGregor plays by a different set of rules, though. The brash Irishman smoked Jose Aldo, the greatest featherweight of all-time, in 13 seconds last December, then immediately set his sights on making history, planning to add the UFC lightweight title to his already crowded trophy cabinet.
There was even a rumour swirling around the internet that if McGregor beat dos Anjos in the initially scheduled UFC lightweight title fight next weekend he was going to challenge welterweight king Robbie Lawler for a 170-pound title fight at UFC 200 in July.
For any other fighter on the roster that suggestion would be outrageous, but it seems like a real possibility in McGregor’s world.
More than anyone before him, McGregor dares to be great. With that comes greater risk, but also a greater chance for glory.
On the SBG Ireland poster boy’s journey to the wherever he pleases, every fighter within his weight range will be jockeying to get in position to fight McGregor. Plain and simply, they all have dollar signs in their eyes when they think about the high-profile clash.
“I’d change your bum life,” McGregor boastfully stated during a 2015 UFC press conference, addressing his fellow fighters.
“You fight me it’s a celebration. You ring back home, you ring your wife ‘baby we done it, we’re rich, baby. Conor McGregor made us rich! Break out the red panties! We’re rich, baby!”
It’s an arrogant statement from the UFC’s pay-per-view king, but at this stage, it’s hard to call him a liar.
Chad Mendes, who, similarly to Diaz, fought the ‘Notorious’ champion on short notice, had his disclosed purse bumped up to $500,000 – a big jump from the $96,000 he cleared for his previous fight.
Love it or hate it, McGregor is the money fight at featherweight, lightweight or welterweight right now, and everyone is just fighting for a lottery ticket.
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