– Niall Kelly reports from Las Vegas
CONOR MCGREGOR WON’T be fighting for a title — but there is still one belt on the line at UFC 196 this Saturday night.
And women’s champion Holly Holm says it is “no big deal” that her first bantamweight defence is not the main event.
McGregor was set to face the injured Rafael dos Anjos in a champion v champion superfight for the lightweight title, but instead now makes his welterweight debut against Nate Diaz over five rounds.
That non-title fight remains the main event, and Holm doesn’t care that the only bout with gold at stake is not the night’s headliner.
She said: “I don’t mind — co-main event, main event, first fight of the night, I don’t care.
“I’m here to fight Miesha Tate. That’s who I’ve been training for and that’s where my focus is.
Conor’s an exciting fighter. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be main event. It’s no big deal to me.
“I’m honoured to be on the same card with all the other fighters here and I’ve really no other thought about it.”
Holm made her UFC debut a little over a year ago but exploded to prominence in her third fight for the organisation with a stunning KO victory against the previously undefeated Ronda Rousey.
Now she faces a top contender in Tate, who hasn’t been beaten since she lost to Rousey herself back in December 2013.
“My goal is to get that belt put on my waist again,” Holm said.
“I don’t feel like it’s mine. There’s still a lot of work to do to retain it.
I don’t think, ‘It’s mine, I need to keep it.’ I want to put just as much work into it now as I did for the last fight and I want to put even more work in for the coming fight after.
“5 March, I want to win whether it’s for the belt or not and that’s what I want to focus on, the victory.”
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