Forget what the UFC and the media will have you believe, McGregor vs Diaz 2 will be the biggest draw in the company’s history. UFC betting fans and experts were all jumping for joy once the fight announced. It will be the most talked about, most watch fight in the company’s history, no question about it. No disrespect to any of the fighters on the card for UFC 200 (specially you Brock, we like you, please don’t kill us), but this fight will have all the attention due to months and months of back and forth and a certain boxer who was open on having an interpromotional fight.
The rest of the card is yet to be announced, and considering that UFC 201 is still being worked on, we might expect some other big fights to be announced as well. But with that main event it truly will not make any difference the other fights that go down that night.
At the moment, the UFC betting line for this fight is:
Nate Diaz 2½ (EV) -105
Conor McGregor 2½ (-120) -115
McGregor remains as the top favorite for this fight, but not as overwhelmingly as in their first encounter where Diaz made him tap out. Up to that point, it was a definitive upset. But, let’s not forget that McGregor moved up two weight classes to be able to fight. Even still, with that said odds makers still had McGregor as the favorite. Very few players betting on UFC actually picked Diaz to beat McGregor. That night, after McGregor came out swinging and loosing all steam by the second round, Diaz was able to put McGregor in a rear naked chokehold that stopped the fight.
After the fight the rematch was demanded by millions of fans all over the world hoping for this rivalry to continue, then things began to get “strange”. The two were expected to fight on UFC 200, as the Main Event bout. But McGregor got into a contract dispute with UFC officials and the fight was pulled. Later, rumors of a possible fight McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather, set the Internet on fire. After dubious reports from sides, nothing was confirmed. Later, Nate Diaz wanted a much better contract for the fight, and that also threatened the fight from happening.
Fast forward to UFC 199, and finally the announcement was made official that the UFC finally made an agreement with both parts to headline UFC 202 in August. UFC betting fans cheered, as it felt that Christmas was coming early. This fight promises to be better put together, with both fighters preparing themselves on an even playing field. While Diaz had to get ready rather quickly, McGregor had to gain weight quickly and perhaps unsafely. This time around, with enough time to prepare the fight, and enough time to be properly promoted this is going to be epic. I mean, just imagine the prefight press conference. All that glorious trash talking that will go down. Exciting months are ahead for MMA fans.
