UFC 196 will go down as one of the biggest pay-per-view events in MMA history, with Dana White stating it pulled in an estimated 1.5 million buys. The main event of that March 5th card was Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz at welterweight, with Diaz coming in on just 11 days notice and submitting McGregor with a rear-naked choke in a thrilling contest. Following McGregor's defeat, the UFC featherweight champion said he was planning to return to 145 to defend his title in his next fight.

Evidently, that will not be the case.

MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani reports that the UFC is close to finalizing an immediate rematch -- which, rather curiously, would also be contested at welterweight -- between McGregor and Diaz as the main event of UFC 200 on July 9th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Diaz (19-10) earned a show purse of $500,000, while McGregor (19-3) became the first fighter in UFC history to net a $1,000,000 show salary. It's assumed that both fighters made much more than what was listed on the NAC's salaries sheet. McGregor now owns the 3 highest gate totals in the history of UFC events in Nevada, and if this fight gets made, he'll likely make it 4.

It's certainly an unexpected (but not yet official) decision made by the UFC, as it appears McGregor will once again delay defending his title (or even fight Rafael dos Anjos as originally planned at UFC 196), while Diaz won't turn the biggest win of his career into a title shot against either dos Anjos at lightweight or even Robbie Lawler at welterweight. One person who is surely seething at this report is Frankie Edgar, who has been clamoring for a title shot against firstly Jose Aldo, then McGregor, and now seems to be shut out yet again.

Also on course to be on the big UFC 200 card are heavyweights Cain Velasquez and Travis Browne, as well as middleweights Derek Brunson and Gegard Mousasi. Women's bantamweight champ Miesha Tate is open to defending her belt at this event, and Paige VanZant is aiming for a spot on the card following her stint on Dancing With the Stars.