As the UFC looks to find a replacement for dos Anjos, the field of possible contenders has been trimmed down
News broke this morning that Rafael dos Anjos was injured and out of his UFC 196 fight against Conor McGregor. Since the story came out, a bevy of Featherweight and Lightweight fighters have thrown their hats into the ring as possible replacements.
Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz are seemingly the front runners in the McGregor sweepstakes. Both fighters have shared their opinions about the situation on social media. Cerrone tweeted a video of him training hard in preparation for the short notice fight.
” I know a guy ” @ elevate PHW https://t.co/AHmTf4vu81
— Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) February 23, 2016
Nate Diaz took an alternate route, seemingly telling McGregor that he will have to get on his knees and beg for a fight with him.
He’s going to have to get on his knees and beg…
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) February 23, 2016
Arguably the most worthy candidate for a shot at McGregor is top Featherweight contender Frankie Edgar. Mutliple sources and websites have confirmed that Edgar is injured and would not be able to compete at UFC 196.
If you’re clamoring for Edgar, he’s unavailable, I’m told. Dealing w/ an injury. There aren’t a ton of options. You can probably guess em.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 23, 2016
The Lightweight #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov reached out to the UFC to replace dos Anjos. According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, the UFC has turned down Nurmagomedov.
Told that @TeamKhabib offered to replace @RdosAnjosMMA and @UFC said no. Going to update my post.
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) February 23, 2016
You can also count out former UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. His manager said that even though Aldo was coming to the gym constantly, he wasn’t training hard enough for a rematch with McGregor, or for a five round fight.