Rafael Dos Anjos Drops Out Of UFC 196 Fight Against Conor McGregor
The lightweight champion broke his foot.
With UFC 196 less than two weeks away, Rafael dos Anjos has pulled out of the main event—his much-anticipated showdown with Conor McGregor for the UFC lightweight title. What a bummer.
MMAFighting.com reports that dos Anjos broke his foot last Friday and after taking the weekend to see if it would miraculously heal, decided to bow out of the March 5 fight. His coach told the site that do Anjos won’t need surgery but is supposed to keep off the foot for the next three weeks.
The UFC is reportedly working to find another opponent for McGregor because Dana White needs the UFC’s biggest star not named Ronda Rousey to stay on the fight card. No matter who it is though, McGregor has lost his chance to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at the same time.
All of this must feel like a recurring nightmare for McGregor, who’s lost opponents to injury three times before. Most recently, then-featherweight champion Jose Aldo pulled out of UFC 189 with only 11 days until their fight.
Potential replacements for dos Anjos have already begun weighing in on whether they’d like to step into the Octagon with the dangerous McGregor.
Aldo has said no, Donald Cerrone has said he’s game and perhaps most interestingly, Nate Diaz has indicated that he’d take on McGregor. All he wants is for “The Notorious” to show he really wants it:
He's going to have to get on his knees and beg…
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) February 23, 2016
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