UFC 196: Conor McGregor to face Nate Diaz on March 5th in Rafael Dos Anjos absence

Nate Diaz has been named as a surprise replacement to face Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5th after Rafael Dos Anjos broke his foot .

It was originally thought that the natural replacement for Dos Anjos would be Donald ‘Cowboy Cerrone who only last weekend at UFC Fight Night 83 defeated Alex ‘Cowboy’ Olivera via an arm triangle choke in the first round.

The UFC however, went for fan favourite Diaz who has long been campaigning for a fight with McGregor since early last year.

Talk of a fight between the two first started when Diaz was contacted by the UFC to step up to face the Dubliner in July last year when Jose Aldo pulled out of UFC 189.

That time, however, the Stockton native was overlooked for Chad Mendes and McGregor went on to win the UFC lightweight belt.

Diaz the ignited the talk of a showdown with McGregor last December when he went on a verbal tirade at the Irishman after beating Michael Johnson at UFC on Fox 17 saying: “If people want to see a real fight, they know who to call,” he said.

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“I’ll train hard and ninja his ass up. Ninja real shit, not no funny fake ‘let’s fight, but let’s be good friends, it’s a sport’ — F*** that, f*** the sport. This is fight s***. This is ninja s***. That’s what people want to see.”

The absence of Dos Anjos though has presented Diaz with a fantastic opportunity to finally get the fight he has been craving and take on McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5th. The bout will now take place at welterweight (170lbs).

Mind you, Diaz will do so in the knowledge that he wasn’t necessarily the UFC’s first choice to replace Dos Anjos. Speaking to Yahoo sports earlier, UFC president Dana White confirmed that both Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar had been offered the fight but had declined the opportunity for their different reasons citing injuries and not being ‘in the right shape to fight’ in the case of the Brazilian.

Among all the uncertainty and controversy, one thing has always been consistent and that is that McGregor was always showing on March 5th. Such is his confidence in his own ability, McGregor has always maintained the competition are all the same to him. He might be in for a surprise Diaz mind you.