THE REMATCH BETWEEN Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor will take centre stage on the UFC’s pay-per-view card on 20 August, but one of the most eagerly-anticipated match-ups on the bill has been moved elsewhere.
MMA’s leading organisation has put together a stacked line-up for UFC 202 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and while it’s still an excellent card, it won’t be quite the same without the meeting of Demian Maia and Carlos Condit.
A potential number one contender bout in the welterweight division, Maia and Condit will instead collide seven days later in the main event at UFC on FOX 21 in Vancouver.
The main priority for the many Irish fans who are set to travel to Vegas next month is Conor McGregor’s revenge mission against Nate Diaz, but they’ll also undoubtedly have been looking forward to seeing what’s likely to be a fascinating grappler-versus-striker match-up.
Maia (23-6), a 38-year-old former middleweight title challenger, has been in superb form since his unanimous-decision defeat to Rory MacDonald at UFC 170 in February 2014.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace is on a run of five straight wins — including submissions of Neil Magny and Matt Brown, as well as 15 minutes of dominance against Gunnar Nelson at UFC 194 — so a title shot will surely be his reward for a victory over Condit.
Having lost via a controversial split decision to defending champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 195 back in January, 32-year-old former interim champion Condit (30-9) will be hoping that a defeat of Maia can ignite another run at the welterweight title.
In spite of the blow to the UFC 202 line-up, it’s still set to be one of the best cards of the year in just over four weeks’ time.
UFC 202
Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor
Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson vs. Glover Teixeira
Rick Story vs. Donald Cerrone
Cody Garbrandt vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Neil Magny vs. Lorenz Larkin
Tim Means vs. Sean Strickland
Raquel Pennington vs. Elizabeth Phillips
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Sultan Aliev
Alberto Uda vs. Marvin Vettori
Artem Lobov vs. Chris Avila
Ning Guangyou vs. Marlon Vera
