Conor McGregor is hesitant to commit to another fight with Rafael dos Anjos after he pulled out.
UFC 196 was supposed to be historic as featherweight champion Conor McGregor fought lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos for his belt. But Dos Anjos pulled out due to a foot injury and was replaced by Nate Diaz in a bout that will take place at welterweight.
McGregor is all too accustomed to fighters pulling out and it has made The Notorious hesitant to pursue that lightweight title bout with Dos Anjos again.
“It’s hard to commit to Dos Anjos again,” McGregor said. “The same with Jose (Aldo). He pulled, and it took him two (attempts) to build up the courage.
“Hopefully, maybe, it would take Dos Anjos two (attempts) to build up the courage. But when you pull out with an injury like that, a bruise on the foot, there’s not much I can do to help you to bring you back into the mix. So it does change things a little bit, but we have to see how that one plays out.”
McGregor was quick to draw comparisons between Dos Anjos and Jose Aldo, who he knocked out in 13 seconds in December to win the unified featherweight belt. Aldo pulled out a couple of weeks out from the fight with a rib injury McGregor dismissed as insignificant at the time, much like Dos Anjos’ foot.
Surprisingly Aldo turned down a chance to fill in for Dos Anjos in a rematch because he wasn’t ready to return to fighting despite being cleared to resume recently. Frankie Edgar, the next-contender for the featherweight title, was also reached about filling in for Dos Anjos but couldn’t because of an injury as well.
This only fueled McGregor’s criticism of his fellow UFC fighters.
“They all have sore vaginas lately, it’s crazy,” McGregor said. “There’s something going on, I don’t know. Dos Anjos broke his foot and his vagina in the same damn day, in the same way as Edgar. I couldn’t believe the odds of that to happen.”
But with McGregor questioning fighting Dos Anjos again while still wanting to pursue two titles, and him making his welterweight debut, you have to wonder if he will in turn set his sights on Robbie Lawler.
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