When Conor McGregor took on Nate Diaz in their first fight back in the beginning of March, he was a heavy favorite despite the fact that he was fighting two weight classes up from where he typically fights. As we all know now, McGregor lost that fight when Diaz got him with a rear naked choke in the second round.
McGregor and Diaz are expected to have a rematch at UFC 200 and odds makers are already jumping all over it despite the fact that the fight has not been officially announced yet. Although the fight isn't confirmed yet, the UFC is expected to make an official announcement regarding the rematch as early as this week.
If McGregor vs. Diaz is in fact the headliner at UFC 200, he will open up as the favorite over Diaz. To open up, McGregor is -162 while Diaz is +125 based on the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power. It might be a surprise to some that McGregor opens up as the favorite considering he just lost to Diaz less than a month ago, but that fight was on short notice.
McGregor was initially supposed to take on Rafael dos Anjos at 155 pounds, but less than two weeks before the fight dos Anjos pulled out and McGregor volunteered to go up to 170 pounds to take on Diaz. This go around, McGregor will have a full allotment of time to prepare for a fight against Diaz and get his body used to being at 170 pounds. If you watched the first fight, McGregor seemed to be winning until he tired out in the second round and Diaz caught him, so with more preparation time he will likely be able to avoid tiring out.
While it seems likely McGregor's next fight will be a rematch with Diaz, that is not a certainty and there are other options. The other opponents McGregor could potentially face are Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo in a featherweight title defense. McGregor would be the betting favorite in both of those fights as well - he actually has never entered a fight as an underdog. The Notorious did open up as an underdog when he took on Dustin Poirier in 2014, but by the time the fight actually happened he had moved up to nearly a 3/1 favorite, and rightfully so, as he knocked out Poirier in the first round.
We can't be too sure yet who McGregor will be fighting at UFC 200, but one thing we do know as that he will open up as the favorite. No matter who the Irishman fights he will certainly draw a lot of attention and build anticipation for the event. UFC 200 will take place on July 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
