UFC champions co-headline 196 card
Just because Conor McGregor won’t fight for a title at UFC 196 on Saturday doesn’t mean the co-main event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas will be any less interesting.
Enter Nate Diaz. The unconstrained 30-year-old fighter from Northern California becomes the next combatant to seek to end Irishman McGregor’s UFC dominance.
Diaz was tapped last week to replace lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, who injured his foot in training and withdrew from the contest. McGregor, who holds the featherweight crown and has won all seven of his UFC bouts, sought to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two divisions simultaneously.
The main card gets underway at 10 p.m. ET and is available on pay-per view ($50 for standard-definition and $60 in highdefinition through major cable and satellite providers or via UFC.tv).
WHY WATCH?
The main card does have one title fight: the co-main event bout between women’s welterweight champ Holly Holm and Miesha Tate.
This will be Holm’s first title defense since her stunning knockout victory of Ronda Rousey in November.
Holm (10-0-0), who is a former champion pro boxer, made her UFC debut a year ago and has won her first three bouts. Tate (17-5-0) has won four consecutive fights since her loss to Rousey in December 2013.
Tate has more than double the number of MMA matches to her credit and more experience on the mat. (Holm has not been put on her back in the octagon by another fighter.) Noted striking coach Gil Martinez told MMAjunkie.com that Tate could make Holm’s reign atop the division a short one with a well-timed fist, elbow, knee or kick.
Matinez said Tate could “outstrike her and even knock her out. Anything can happen.”
ANY OTHER DRAWS?
If the talk leading up the fight is any indication, McGregor vs. Diaz should be entertaining.
Diaz (18-10-0) has accused McGregor (19-2-0) of using steroids, a claim McGregor denied last week with one of several expletive-filled lines at a news conference.
Then there’s the fact that McGregor isn’t just moving up one weight class like he originally was scheduled, but two divisions (and 25 pounds) to the 170-pound cutoff in welterweight.
McGregor brushed aside talk that the jump would give him issues, though Diaz begged to differ.
“You fight midgets,” Diaz said. “Knocked out three midgets, and you’re pumped up.”
WHO ELSE IS ON THE CARD?
Ilir Latifi vs. Gian Villante Corey Anderson vs. Tom Lawlor
Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko