Yes, it was a travesty this morning when reports that Rafael dos Anjos broke his foot and was no longer in the fight with Conor McGregor just a little over a week from now. Then, the internet, and UFC brass, went into a mad scramble to find a replacement while speculation ran wild.
The first two obvious choices were Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo as both have been clamoring for shot at the Irishman. It may not be the title shot they wanted, but Aldo said he would not fight anyone until he was given a rematch. His excuse was that he was out of shape and not ready while Edgar was recovering from his own injury. Then Khabib Nurmagomedov tried to fill in, but the UFC was not too keen on that matchup considering his injury prone nature and his already lined up fight.
Then there was this mysterious shortlist that the UFC had and while no names were released some of the choices were obvious with Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz who have already had some interaction between and heat for potential bouts between the two. Also, Eddie Alvarez seemed like a logical choice as he is coming off two big wins recently. Donald Cerrone had just fought at 170 in his last fight no more than a few days ago, but already started to make the cut to 155 for the McGregor fight in case he was needed. Alvarez stayed quiet and was not nearly as big of a draw as the other two.
Nate Diaz had some rumblings, but then there were rumors that he was a bit too overweight and could not make 155 and would rather fight at about 165 considering the short notice nature of the fight. He is a tall fighter so do not think being at 165 means he is out of shape. As the rumors continued to circle it was said the UFC did not want Conor to fight that high in weight, Diaz did not like the money offer for the fight and any number of things. Finally, it was locked that those two would fight.
Not only would they fight, it would not be at 165. No, they are going to fight at Welterweight, 170 pounds. This is according to some information that leaked that Conor could care less about the five pounds and they should just fight at 170. Now, the UFC has a new main event that seems to add even more intrigue to that fight. Does it have you excited?