If the pre-fight staredown between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz was anything to go by, you can be sure that the main event of UFC 196 will just be unmissable.
The UFC Featherweight champion McGregor, who has moved up two weight classes to compete against Nate Diaz in a non-title five-round Welterweight battle, nearly came to blows against his opponent, and had it not been for UFC President Dana White and the security, UFC 196 would have taken place Thursday itself.
The good thing is the event will still go on as it is scheduled.
In the pre-fight news conference, both fighters, as were expected, thrash-talked about each other and the choicest of expletives were hurled. The Irishman McGregor, who is well-known for his bad boy and "Notorious" image both in and out of the octagon, slammed Diaz's financial condition.
"Look at Nate's last fight — $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win, not even a win bonus," McGregor was quoted by Fox Sports. "His full check wasn't even a Performance of the Night bonus, now he's out there popping his cherry and he's going to make his first million.
"He really should be thankful and be grateful for this opportunity that I am giving him. Don't talk about money, you're broke."
Diaz, on his part, remained calm but made sure to take a dig at McGregor's training partners. "I've got real training partners," Diaz said. "Top-10 fighters. Top-10 boxers. Top-10 jiu-jitsu guys. Top-10 kickboxers. You're playing touch-butt with that dork in the park."
McGregor slapped the fisted right hand of Diaz during their staredown and following that, all hell broke loose. Check out the incident below:
While the main event of UFC 196 is set to be a blockbustre, the co-main event of the PPV can also not be written off. Holly Holm, after shocking the world with a win over Ronda Rousey last December, goes into her first title defence as she takes on Miesha Tate.
UFC 196: Aldo vs McGregor schedule:
Date: March 5, 2016.
Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas.
TIme: 10 p.m. EST / 7 pm PST (8:30 a.m. IST, 3 a.m. GMT, 2 p.m. AEDT)
TV listings: Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD (India), PayPerView (US, Canada), BT Sport 2 (UK), Combate (Brazil), Main Event (Australia).
Main cards:
Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz - welterweight
Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate - bantamweight title
Gian Villante vs Ilir Latifi - light heavyweight
Corey Anderson vs Tom Lawlor - light heavyweight
Amanda Nunes vs Valentina Shevchenko - bantamweight
