All the squabbling, all the negotiations, all the Twitter drama, all the Floyd Mayweather boxing superfight nonsense is done.
It’s official. Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor will headline UFC 202 in Las Vegas on Aug. 20 in one of the most anticipated rematches in mixed martial arts history.
The UFC made the announcement during the UFC 199 broadcast Saturday.
The pair were originally supposed to headline UFC 200, however UFC president Dana White pulled McGregor off the card on April 21 after the Irish superstar refused to fly to Las Vegas to take part in certain promotional events.
A public feud between McGregor and the UFC ensued, which included McGregor tweeting that he was going to retire.
Diaz submitted McGregor late in the second round of the UFC 196 main event March 5. Even though McGregor is the UFC’s featherweight (145-pound division) champion and Diaz is a natural lightweight (155-pound division), their fight took place at the welterweight limit of 170 pounds. The rematch will also take place at welterweight.
White has described McGregor as being “obsessed” with avenging his loss to Diaz and doing so at 170 pounds. Since McGregor isn’t defending his featherweight title, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar are competing for an interim 145-pound belt at UFC 200.
Monetarily speaking, Diaz-McGregor 2 is a no-brainer. White told ESPN Radio in the days following UFC 196 that the MMA promotion “broke so many records,” before adding, “It was the biggest pay-per-view we ever did. Social media was ridiculous.”
UFC 202 will in all likelihood surpass any and all records that were set at UFC 196.
