It looks like the UFC will soon be announcing two big title fights for their upcoming UFC 197 pay-per-view event and coincidentally enough, neither champion will be fighting someone that was originally intended, or “guaranteed/promised” by the UFC themselves. Despite that fact, it’s highly unlikely that many fans will be complaining when March 5th rolls around.
BleacherReport.com is reporting that the UFC will soon announce “The Notorious” Conor McGregor challenging for the UFC Lightweight Championship against Rafael dos Anjos as the main event of the 3/5 PPV, which is expected to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ultimately, the decision has seemingly been made to have McGregor challenge for a second title instead of defending his newly unified 145-pound title against Frankie Edgar, something that was flat-out promised to Edgar by UFC President Dana White after he knocked out Chad Mendes at the TUF 22 Finale event held the night before McGregor defeated Jose Aldo to unify the UFC Featherweight Championship.
As noted earlier this week, White seemingly warmed up to the idea of letting McGregor attempt to become a champion in a second weight class in the UFC without surrendering his existing title, something that is now apparent with the Irish star reportedly challenging for a second title before defending the title he just unified in December.
In addition to the McGregor-Dos Anjos bout, UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm will be defending her title for the first time against former title contender Miesha Tate in the co-main event of what will surely be among the biggest events UFC puts on in all of 2016.
The Holm-Tate fight was set up earlier this week, as alluded to by Holm in an interview. Originally, UFC intended on going with an immediate rematch between Holm and Ronda Rousey, however due to Rousey’s inability to return to the Octagon when preferred, they pulled the trigger on the Holm-Tate bout instead.
UFC 197 is scheduled for Saturday, March 5, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are conflicting reports as to whether or not the event will be held inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena or the Mandalay Bay Events Center. We will update you with confirmation on the venue when the information becomes available.
