Dana White announced on ESPN’s SportsCenter Tuesday night that Nate Diaz would face Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 196. The fight will be contested at the welterweight limit of 170 pounds due to the short notice for Diaz.
White indicated that it would be the most exciting fight that they could make. White also named Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar as fighters that turned down the fight. Despite Donald Cerrone lobbying for the fight, he was not chosen.
There will be a press conference on Wednesday with both fighters taking part.
Diaz has expressed his hate for McGregor in his last post-fight Octagon interview. Thus, despite the short promotion time for this fight, we should be in for some great sound bites.
Payout Perspective:
One would think that the UFC made the choice of Diaz over Cerrone and others due to how they could sell this fight. Diaz had an impressive win over Michael Johnson and will not have to cut much weight. The big announcement was sort of a slight to Aldo and Edgar as White named them as fighters not willing to take the fight. This has made Edgar mad. Edgar is dealing with an injury and could not take the fight on short notice. We will see how this plays out for Edgar as he could be in line for Conor at UFC 200. But, lashing out at the company might mean someone else gets the shot. On the other hand, he’s been put on hold since Conor has moved up in weight.
As for UFC 196, the Diaz-Conor matchup should make for some interesting promotion for the fight.
Great thing about mma, 12 days out you lose a champ vs champ fight and they plug in another fight that might be bigger and the event goes on.
Porter/Thurman is a great fight, THurman hurt and the entire card is off, nobody gets paid.
If Tim Bradley pulled out Manny isnt fighting someone else and thats not till April.
UFC keeps the event going on a weeks notice, amazing.
Cant wait for McGregor/Diaz.
They cant afford to cancel thats what hahaha…they spend so much marketing they haf to push thru….its a great thing to give a guy 12 days notice? what? Why dont they move the date and give diaz 5 weeks at least for safety of fighters….desperate
Hahaha nobody got paid? In boxing thurman and porter level get training expenses in advance from promoters.and the pay is way bigger that they can afford cancellation…theyre not desperate
Porter and Thurman combined are making less than half of what McGregor is making for this fight.
Agree chris!
Big promotion cant adjust date? 12 days notice….good thing diaz insisted on a heavier weight….hahahaha…they begged….mcgregor trained for about 55 to 60 days….the other guy 20 % of that….
Damn Tops is so flustered and has nothing to say he’s running up multiple comments in a row.
D you got any proof for that claim?
Fight Fan, it is amazing how you always expect someone to present “proof” of something when you never do yourself and then when they do provide proof, you run away from the discussion.
Porter made 1m for his last fight.
Guerrero made 1.5m for his fight against Guerrero.
That’s right around what the two will make for their upcoming fight.
McGregor will likely make well over 5m after ppv. His last two ppvs were 825k and 1.1m buys. He has the lowest goal ppv points in his contract next to possibly Rousey only. I can’t imagine a scenerio where he wouldn’t receive that much. If that were the case, he would hold out and they would have to pay him- it would be worth it for them. Those 2 fights brought in around 80-90m after the cable providers get their cut.
Hahaha….why didnt the ufc give diaz 5 weeks at least? Diaz was brought in to lose to dw favorite mc gregor….dw should watch out karma can strike again…hahaha…smart move by diaz to make them agree to 170..12 days notice for highlevel big card, is pathetic.