A couple marquee match-ups have been added to UFC 200, as Conor McGregor gets another crack at Nate Diaz in the main event and Frankie Edgar will battle Jose Aldo for the interim featherweight championship.
UFC officials announced the new bouts on Wednesday afternoon.
McGregor (19-3) has easily been the face behind the UFC over the last twelve months and regardless of what the UFC or fans wanted, this was the fight he wanted. At UFC 196, the Irish bad boy took a late replacement fight against Diaz and wound up being in over his head — losing by rear-naked choke in the second round.
Diaz (19-10) is now riding a two-fight winning streak, with easily his biggest money win being over McGregor at UFC 196 giving him his red panty night. Bouncing between the lightweight and welterweight division, Diaz is looking for another big payday following UFC 200.
Aldo (25-2) lost his first bout in over 10-years at UFC 194, when he was KO’d by McGregor in just 13-seconds. While many thought that the Brazilian should get an automatic rematch after his championship loss, however McGregor had other plans. Aldo defended his featherweight strap against Edgar back at UFC 156, when he beat him by unanimous decision and earned ‘Fight of the Night’ honors for their performance.
Edgar (20-4-1) is on a five-fight winning streak in the featherweight division and has been vying for a title shot for almost a year now. With victories over Urijah Faber and Chad Mendes in 2015, Edgar expected to fight either McGregor or Aldo at some point, again that did not happen. The 34-year-old has won $50,000 bonuses for three of his last five fights.
UFC 200 goes down on July 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Other match-ups announced for the big event are Travis Browne vs. Cain Velasquez, Derek Brunson vs. Gegard Mousasi and Joe Lauzon vs. Diego Sanchez.
