The UFC confirmed in the early hours of this morning that Nate Diaz will replace Rafael dos Anjos as Conor McGregor's opponent as UFC 196 on March 5th. The fight will not be at lightweight but instead welterweight.
Dos Anjos sustained a fractured foot while sparring late last week.
In a statement issued by dos Anjos' wife, it was confirmed the injury will keep him out of action for approximately four weeks.
Even when we are in a desert we still glorify the Lord! He always has the best for His sons! Since last Friday during Rafael's last sparring with all safe equipments, Rada got a fracture in his 5th bone metatarsal. We thought was only a swelling foot, but yesterday we confirmed on this RX why he can't walk at all. If he can't walk how he gonna make the weights? So we have to wait 4 weeks from now to recovery. It will be just a break, a month is not too much time! Rafael is completely move by his spiritual faith and knows that he can come back much stronger. Now it's time to recovery the injury! Thanks for all prayers to family, friends and fans! We love you all.
There was speculation that should McGregor have defeated dos Anjos, he could have then gone on to fight Robbie Lawler for the welterweight belt at UFC 200 in July. That would now seem unlikely.
Instead, McGregor vs dos Anjos being rescheduled for the UFC's landmark event July 9th would seem highly probable.
Sorry to all my real fans and @ufc,I never cancel any fight due to injury but accidents happen #Jesus #truechampion pic.twitter.com/wrV58w9KaS
— Rafael dos Anjos (@RdosAnjosMMA) February 24, 2016
Translation via Evy Rodrigues
