UFC 200 Fight News: Event Card Shaping up, More Fights Made Official
The year's biggest mixed martial arts card is beginning to shape up, as more fights have been officially announced.
UFC 200 is expected to be the UFC's monumental event for 2016, as it is slated to take place at the newly built T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 9th, which is also International Fight Week.
As stated on the company's official website UFC.com, the event will be headlined by a rematch between former lightweight title contender Nate Diaz and reigning featherweight world champion Conor McGregor in a non-title welterweight bout.
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The said main event bout will be part two of the first encounter between the two men that took place last March 5th as the headliner for UFC 196. The said event was supposed to be headlined by a title fight between McGregor and champion Rafael Dos Anjos, but all plans were scrapped when the latter was forced out of the bout due to a broken foot, 11 days before fight night.
Instead, Diaz was called upon to step in as replacement, and the fight was agreed upon at 170-pounds, at welterweight instead. For his part, Diaz made sure that he did not disappoint, as he was able to emerge victorious via second round rear-naked choke.
What made his victory more notable was being able to hand "The Notorious" his first UFC loss. Co-headlining the event is an interim featherweight title fight between former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and former 145-pound champion José Aldo.
As stipulated by company president Dana White, the winner of the said fight will be facing Conor McGregor, in a still undetermined date. Edgar is believed to be the more deserving one, as he was able to come out strong in his last fight, via a first round knockout finish of two-time title contender Chad Mendes last December.
Also on the card is a heavyweight title fight between former champion Cain Velasquez, and fast-rising contender Travis Browne. Former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks will also be on the card, as he takes on Ultimate Fighter 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum.
