According to MMA Fighting, UFC decision makers are set to pull the trigger on an automatic rematch between featherweight kingpin Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz at UFC 200 in July.
In the absence of pay-per-view queen Ronda Rousey, McGregor has more than filled her shoes as the promotion’s cash cow, selling over one million units in his past two bouts.
His most recent trip to the box office yielded a staggering 1.5 million buys, making it the second most purchased MMA event in history behind UFC 100, which featured both Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre in championship bouts.
There’s no denying that UFC 196 was a financial success for McGregor, but the same cannot be said for his effort in the Octagon, as the Straight Blast Gym Ireland fighter suffered his first UFC defeat, tapping out to a rear-naked-choke from Diaz in the second round.
Following the setback, McGregor discussed shedding the kilos to return to his former weight class – 25 pounds lighter – to defend the featherweight title he captured last December.
Former champions Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo were both lobbying for a title shot, but now it seems that neither will get a crack at the UFC’s most wanted man – at least, not right away.
According to multiple outlets, the Diaz versus McGregor rematch is the fight UFC have chosen to christen the new multipurpose arena in Las Vegas at UFC 200 – a landmark pay-per-view event over 22 years in the making.
It was a no-brainer that the UFC would someday book Diaz-McGregor II, but why does it have to be on the immediate agenda?
McGregor still holds a championship belt, and taking another fight outside of the featherweight class just handcuffs that division further. Moreover, what are the chances that the outcome would be drastically different with a few extra months of preparation?
Sure, McGregor won the first round, rattling the Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu student with ridiculous power shots, but after Diaz walked through his knockout blows, the Irish homerun hitter had no answers.
The matchmaking decision is almost identical to the baffling move the company recently made to book UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in an immediate rematch against Chris Weidman.
Rockhold bloodied the ‘All-American’ Weidman in their first fight last December, breaking him down with a savage barrage of punches and elbows to take the 185-pound title.
Just like McGregor, Weidman had his moments in the beginning but faded down the stretch to decisively lose the fight.
In the first quarter of 2016, it seems the UFC are a little trigger happy with the automatic rematch gun – a move that could drastically hurt the reputation of two cream-of-the-crop fighters.
Weidman, one of the best middleweights in company history, could realistically be damaged goods with an 0-2 record against the champion by June.
Similarly, McGregor could become the first fighter to ever suffer back-to-back defeats in the Octagon and still hold a championship belt by July.
The UFC constantly makes their champions and elite fighters vulnerable. Almost every week, the company sells the promise of unpredictability. The idea that anything can happen, anyone can lose, and anything is possible.
Unlike the boxing model, fighters aren’t protected and records aren’t padded. The UFC houses the lion’s share of elite fighters and matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby consistently do their part to separate the wheat from the chaff.
To some extent, every time the UFC books a fight, whether it’s in sunny Brisbane or under the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip, they’re playing with fire.
It’s a risky business and the promotion should be commended for their willingness to continually roll the dice, but not every gamble is a necessary one.
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