Rafael Dos Anjos has been forced out of his fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5th due to a broken foot according to several reports. No immediate announcement has been made as to a replacement for the lightweight champion or if the McGregor will be pulled altogether from the PPV.
New surfaced about RDA’s injury Tuesday morning including a report from Globo and confirmation received by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Among the hopefuls that may step in for RDA are Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis. Cerrone, of course, just fought on Sunday in a quick first round sub of Alex Oliveira.
If there is no replacement for RDA and McGregor is taken off the card, one would assume that the main event would be Holly Holm making her first title defense against Miesha Tate.
Payout Perspective:
While Holm-Tate would be a great fight and good backup for PPV, it would not garner the anticipated buy rate that a McGregor fight would bring. Moreover, the news likely dampens the anticipation that this would bring in a sellout as well as big PPV numbers. This is not to mention that those thinking of traveling from Ireland to see McGregor might cancel their plans and hold off in anticipation that McGregor will fight in Vegas in July at UFC 200.
tops E says
Oh no…just as fanboys start talking last january…more problems occur hahahaha…..mc gregor should put up his own promotion hahaha
tops E says
Flash entertainment is officially pissed….ipo on hold anew? hahaha
Diego says
I’d love to see Cerrone in there.
d says
Seeing how McGregor did 850k buys with a late replacement in Mendes, it really doesn’t matter who they throw in there, McGregor is gold when it comes to selling ppvs. This should still do at least 750k.
tops E says
Did they beg nate diaz? Hahaha…i think they did….he got 170lbs unlike chad mendes…im sure he got paid good as well….good for diaz! hahaha….how about dw favorite cowboy? two favorites cant fight each other?
The Greatest says
Whats McGregors opponents average time for training camp these days? Two weeks?
I hope Diaz wins just because it would be funny.
d says
What’s a lot funnier is the state of boxing ppv right now.