UFC 196 Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz Odds: McGregor Early Favourite

Conor McGregor will go up two weight classes to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 196 and he’s still the betting favourite. 

Conor McGregor has said that he’d fight anybody, anytime, anywhere, over and over during his rise in popularity in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He continues to stand behind those claims as he is now set to fight Nate Diaz in the UFC 196 main event slot at welterweight, two divisions higher than the featherweight title he won at UFC 194.

Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz

Diaz is the man the UFC tapped to save the March 5 main event after lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout with McGregor due to a broken foot.

But despite another new opponent – this makes four opponent changes for McGregor in his eight UFC fights – and the fact that the Irishman will face a dangerous MMA veteran at 170 pounds, McGregor remains the man at the sportsbook.

UFC 196 odds reopened with McGregor opened as a -360 favourite in the bout, which will remain a five-round affair.

UPDATE: Conor McGregor moved to a -400 favourite on Feb. 25. About 55 percent of bettors are currently backing Nate Diaz as a +280 underdog.

UPDATE: McGregor saw a big move to -470 on March 2 and bumped further to -490 on March 3, with Diaz moving to +330. About 62 percent of bettors are now backing the Irishman. 

Best Conor McGregor Quotes of All Time.

“We called Jose Aldo; Jose Aldo turned the fight down,” UFC president Dana White told reporters. “We called Frankie Edgar; Frankie Edgar turned the fight down. Those are two guys everybody was talking about.

“A lot of guys wanted this fight, but we ended up with Nate Diaz. We felt this was the fight to make and the fight the fans wanted to see.”

UFC 196 Odds

That’s just one of the fights fans will want to see on the UFC 196 card. In the co-main event MMA odds have Holly Holm set as a -420 favourite as she defends her bantamweight title for the first time against Meisha Tate.

Check out updated UFC 196 odds here.