Conor McGregor vs Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 197 is happening, at least it's still expected to happen. When news dripped out bit by bit on Friday, it was with the addendum that the UFC had yet to officially announce the bout. In other words, it's happening, everyone knows it's happening but don't book your flights just yet because it hasn't been signed, sealed and delivered.
Final confirmation was supposed to come this weekend. However, that failed to arrive. Given that there was no UFC event over the weekend, that's perhaps not overly surprising. Yet it seems an announcement had been planned.
See also: Conor McGregor Set For Eye-Watering Pay-Day At UFC 197
During half time of the Washington vs Green Bay play-off game, those in the know were anticipating the big announcement. John Kavanagh set it up and the likes of Jeremy Botter, who first broke the story, retweeted the countdown.
T minus 1 hour...
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) January 10, 2016
Green Bay went in at half-time 17-11 to the good, MMA fans anticipated the announcement and then Green Bay came back out to finish off Washington. Said MMA fans were a bit worried.
@John_Kavanagh it's been 2 hours 😭
— ♠️ (@DylanSimoes) January 10, 2016
The announcement never came and then came the red panties hashtag.
Well that was an anti climax 😕 #RedPantiesBackInDrawer 🙈🙉🙊
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) January 11, 2016
Cue a bit of panic with plenty of fans desperate for an update on a fight that many had been hoping to book their travel arrangements for as soon as official confirmation came through. Understandably, the wording of Kavanagh's tweet led quite a few to worry that the fight may be off. It's not.
The fight is still expected. It's still expected at UFC 197 on March 5th and Holm vs Tate is still expected to be the co-main event but there's no doubt there's a bit of confusion after Sunday's silence.
Botter's non-silence with regard to this question may serve as something of an explanation.
In reality, we'll just have to sit tight. A last minute hiccup may have been possible but, if you did go and book the flights already, we wouldn't start looking for a refund just yet.
