If Conor McGregor was able to dispose of Nate Diaz in the UFC 196 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, which took place last Saturday night (March 5, 2016) in Las Vegas, Nevada, then “Notorious” was in line for a potential title shot against Robbie Lawler at UFC 200.
Or, as crazy as it sounds, a one-off against Georges St. Pierre, who was in “Sin City” for UFC 196.
But neither fight is going to happen because McGregor was submitted by Diaz in the second round of their short-notice affair. To make matters worse, from a business perspective, the “Notorious” defeat came a few minutes after Holly Holm was choked out by Miesha Tate, killing Holm’s immediate rematch with Ronda Rousey.
There goes that promoter’s license!
Despite previous comments to the contrary, UFC President Dana White insists he’s not mad about losing a pair of gargantuan paydays, because the only thing that really matters to him is whether or not the mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are happy (lol).
From his conversation with Jim Rome:
“People are nuts, are you kidding me? Think about what Mayweather-Pacquiao was advertised to be, and then look at what it was. There’s nobody walking away from Saturday night, whether you went to a bar, you stayed home and bought it on pay-per-view, or you bought a ticket to this fight, nobody left that arena unhappy. That’s what matters to me man. I look at Anthony Kiedis and say [McGregor] might be the greatest guy to ever do this, ever. And then you see in the second, you see he’s starting to gas out, and he’s starting to get tired. Nate is busted up, he’s been hit with everything but the kitchen sink, and then he starts to come back. If you’re a fan of fighting, these are the moments in fighting you live for. I mean, Saturday, both the co-main and main events, the things that happened in those fights, if you’re a combat sports fan, or just somebody it spilled over to you and you tuned in that night, these are the moments you live for.”
UFC 196 delivered, no doubt about it.
The good news is, both McGregor and Rousey can still draw, which means upcoming rematches — Aldo for McGregor and Tate for Rousey — will make up for lost business. Probably not as much as what could have been with UFC 196 victories, but that’s what makes this sport so fun.
Well, most of the time.