On the off chance that either one of Conor McGregor or Rafael dos Anjos drop out of the headline fight at UFC 197, there's a fair chance that we already know who's going to step in. If everything goes to plan and there's no substitute needed then we simply have another excellent lightweight bout to look forward to on March 5th.
McGregor vs Dos Anjos will headline, Holm vs Tait will be next on the bill but outside that there's yet to be anything to really get fans' pulses racing. That's all changed now that another lightweight contender in the shape of Tony Ferguson has been added to the card.
Coming in at number five on the official lightweight rankings, Ferguson is one of a few fighters who has every reason to be less than delighted to see McGregor leapfrog him and get a straight shot at Dos Anjos. Nonetheless, he now has a chance to show why he deserves to move up to the top of the division. His only UFC defeat came to Michael Johnson back in May 2012 and he's going to get a chance for revenge with a rematch at UFC 197 confirmed by officials.
Just added to #UFC197: @FollowTheMenace vs @TonyFergusonXT. 👊 💥: https://t.co/zsJ2S5nrQ4 pic.twitter.com/dOsxjEhhgl
— UFC News (@UFCNews) January 22, 2016
Ferguson is one of a number of lightweight fighters who laid down the gauntlet to McGregor upon confirmation that the featherweight champ would be moving up to 155. It certainly would have been a challenging welcome to the division but the Dubliner was always going to get the fight that he wanted so Ferguson will have to make do with a chance to overcome Johnson.
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The only man to beat Ferguson in the UFC is coming off the back of a damaging defeat to Nate Diaz on the same night that Dos Anjos defeated Donald Cerrone little over a month ago. Nonetheless, he's still ranked at 7 in the official rankings so if Ferguson fancies a title shot in the near future, he has the perfect opportunity to let as many people as possible know that he's ready for the winner of McGregor and Dos Anjos.
Confirmed UFC 197 bouts:
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Conor McGregor – lightweight title
- Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate – women’s bantamweight title
- Tony Ferguson vs. Michael Johnson
- Erick Silva vs. Nordine Taleb
- Corey Anderson vs. Tom Lawlor
- Darren Elkins vs. Chas Skelly
- Jim Miller vs. Diego Sanchez
