We're less than two weeks away from a landmark event in UFC history - its 200th pay-per-view event at the newly built T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The card - headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier - is stacked full of intriguing bouts. There's also Miesha Tate's first defence of her strawweight title and an interim featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar. Even the prelim card is full of interest with two former champions - Johny Hendricks and TJ Dillashaw in action.
The co-main event was announced just earlier this month - Brock Lesnar vs Mark Hunt. Lesnar is one of the promotion's biggest ever draws in terms of PPV numbers. That he has been borrowed from the WWE for the fight smacks a little bit of desperation.
With the removal of Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz's rematch, the UFC knew it needed to play a trump card in order to up the pay-per-view buys. Lesnar was that card.
The reason McGregor is off the card is animosity between him and the UFC created by the promotion's need for the Dubliner to do media events ahead for the fight. That rematch with Diaz has since been rescheduled for August 20th at UFC 202.
Speaking in Dublin during the launch of John Kavanagh's 'Win or Learn', McGregor revealed that tension between him and the UFC over media obligations is still ongoing.
We're still back and forth with media obligations. It's going on right to this second. It's never-ending. They want to pull you left and right.
McGregor's disinterest in media events for the initial fight was due to his desire to be properly prepared to fight Diaz. He felt doing some of the events required of would disrupt his training.
I think some people don't understand how taxing that is, especially coming after a loss like that where I really truly need to look out for me and get myself right and come out the way I need to feel. I can't fatigue like that and live with myself after that. Seeing the way the last fight happened, I can't live with it. I need to isolate myself and just get my work in and come back and get my revenge. And that's what I'm doing.
Picture credit: Mark J. Rebilas / SPORTSFILE
