(Wait, the same people who designed this travesty are capable of making this? AIN’T. BUYING. IT.)
Regardless of how we all felt when rumors first started swirling that the UFC would be booking an immediate rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz for UFC 200, the one thing we could all agree is that we WOULD TOTALLY WATCH THAT SH*T AGAIN. Whether the fight was contested at welterweight, lightweight, Franklinweight, or Moneyweight, there wasn’t a red-blooded MMA fan alive that wouldn’t fork over sixty bucks or the password to the illegal streaming website with which they watch all pay-per-views to see this rematch.
As such, the UFC announced this morning that a welterweight rematch between McGregor vs. Diaz II would in fact be headlining UFC 200. But that’s not all, not by a long shot…
Also revealed to be on tap for UFC 200, if you can believe it, are the following fights:
1) Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo II (for the interim featherweight title) – Yes, while the featherweight champion continues his quest to become a welterweight contender, the man whose four year reign he ended will begin picking up the pieces by rematching the former lightweight champion at featherweight. Crazy times, these are. Anyways, Aldo and Edgar will do battle once again with the interim featherweight title on the line, with the winner receiving the next shot against McGregor whenever he feels like rejoining the 145 pound division.
2) Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne – the former heavyweight champion will return from his latest injury layoff (you know, the one that cost him a rematch against new champ Fabricio Werdum) to take on perennial contender Travis Browne, who is fresh off a third round, foul-filled TKO of Matt Mitrione back in January.
3) Johny Hendricks vs. Kelvin Gastelum – In a battle of guys juuuust a bit too heavy to make 170, former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks will take on TUF 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum. The former is on the heels of a devastating first round KO loss to Stephen Thompson last month, while the latter faced a recent setback of his own in the form of a split decision loss to late replacement opponent Neil Magny. The odds on this thing making it past the weigh-ins? 20-to-1.
4) Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Lauzon – Hot off his first legitimate win in the past six years, Diego “The Nightmare Within a Dream Within a Nightmare” Sanchez will face lightweight staple and bonus king Joe Lauzon, who has dropped two out of his past three fights to Evan Dunham and Al Iaquinta. These two were originally scheduled to meet at UFC 180 until injuries saw them both removed from the card.
5) Takanori Gomi vs. Jim Miller – In what is likely a “loser leaves town” match for both veterans, “The Fireball Kid” will look to rebound from back-to-back TKO losses to Myles Jury and Joe Lauzon against Miller, who himself has dropped two straight to Michael Chiesa and Diego Sanchez.
6) Sage Northcutt vs. Enrique Marin – After suffering the first loss of his professional career to Bryan Barberena, everybody’s favorite front-flipping wonderkid has been booked to face Enrique “Wasabi” Marin, a relative unknown who dropped his UFC debut to Erick Montano at Fight Night 87 in November of last year.
6) Gegard Mousasi vs. Derek Brunson – This one was announced earlier this month, but since we don’t cover really cover fight bookings anymore, we’ll just include it here. The former Strikeforce champion is coming off a decision win over Thales Leites in the co-feature bout of UFC Fight Night 84 on Feb. 27, while the former Strikeforce competitor has rattled off four straight victories including a recent KO of Roan Carneiro at Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Cowboy last month.
Also being rumored for UFC 200 is the long-awaited return of women’s bantamweight title challenger Cat Zingano. While the fight hasn’t been made official yet, Zingano is reportedly expected to face TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena in an undercard bout. Our advice for Cat? Protect your balls.
Suffice it to say, UFC 200 is shaping up to be not only one the best card of the year, but one of the best in UFC history. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as it is inevitably torn apart by injury…
The post McGregor vs. Diaz II, Edgar vs. Aldo, Velasquez vs. Browne + More (!!!) Booked for Stacked UFC 200 Card appeared first on Cagepotato.