The Question: Will McGregor vs. Diaz Be a Huge Fight?

Fans got a taste last week of what might have been this Saturday at UFC 196. At a press conference for the ages, Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz went back-and-forth determining who did and did not give a f--k. And it was glorious.

But after replacing injured lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos just 10 days before the fight of his life, Diaz has gone into lockdown mode. There isn't time to talk about the fight. There's barely time to prepare for it.

McGregor, likewise, has spent little of his media time campaigning against Diaz. In his most prominent appearances, on the UFC's wonderful Embedded series, he's mostly focused on how much he's enjoyed being able to eat food during his training camp.

Has there been enough time and effort spent to make this the legendary bout it should be? Or will McGregor vs. Diaz, due to circumstances beyond their control, be a forgettable non-event?

Bleacher Report Senior Writers Jonathan Snowden and Jeremy Botter, two dudes who go together like milk and cookies, explore.

Jeremy: First of all, there's no way this will be a non-event. No McGregor fight is a non-event. At this point in his career, he could fight a lampshade and pull a crowd.

But it is clear this isn't the kind of crowd McGregor usually pulls. For starters, the Irish faithful are traveling in far fewer numbers than they usually do. With the UEFA Euro 2016 soccer championships in June—which Ireland qualified for, a rare occurrence—and the prospect of McGregor fighting again in July, there is little incentive for the 10,000 or so Irish faithful who came to McGregor's last two fights to do so this week.

Even with all of that, this is still bigger than your average UFC event. It won't break the gate record as the UFC hoped when it priced tickets out of this world, but it's still a big fight. I just fear the lead-up is going to be far more interesting than the fight itself.

Jonathan: The excitement in Ireland for the Euro 2016 soccer tournament is out of this world. Both Ireland and Northern Ireland qualified, which has both nations excited. As big as McGregor is, as big as any individual athlete becomes, nothing can replace soccer in the hearts and minds of the Irish.

I do sense, however, a bit of resentment among the fans who have come to love McGregor so much.

I had multiple fans tell me about taking out loans to see McGregor fight in Las Vegas last year. Coming to America is an expensive proposition even before factoring in tickets. When fans sense the UFC gouging them with prices that exceed anything in the promotion's history, anger comes easily.

Maybe that's also part of the reason why when you click on Ticketmaster to find seats for the bout, they are available in droves, at all price points. Perhaps McGregor's fans, though enthusiastic, have wallets that don't run as deep as their passion?

Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Jeremy: You're right about McGregor not being able to replace football (I'll just use the proper term here, thank you very much) in the hearts of the Irish. He's actually lucky that he isn't competing against any big Gaelic football tournaments at the moment, because that sport is far bigger than even traditional football in Ireland. There is no comparison between Gaelic football and any other sport, even one where McGregor participates.

I think McGregor's fans do have the wallets to cope. That isn't the issue. The problem here is that all of this, all of the repeated trips to America and to Las Vegas, are just a bridge too far.

UFC 196, even with Dos Anjos fighting McGregor, was a rich man's proposition, with the cheapest tickets going for several hundred dollars. That kind of pricing takes the UFC from working man's territory into an "event" where celebrities pay exorbitant tickets prices simply because it is the cool thing to do and the cool place to be seen.

The problem is that the UFC doesn't have that kind of luxurious audience, for the most part. The UFC seems to be forgetting who its audience has historically been, and that is a shame.

Jonathan: There has been a bit of a lull as Diaz attempts desperately to get into fighting shape. Making matters worse, the co-main event between Miesha Tate and Holly Holm has been a promotional dud.

By the time Saturday rolls around, however, this will feel like an event again. There wasn't time for a full-on war of words between Diaz and McGregor. For that, we're all a little worse off.

But the fireworks at the final press conference, including a near brawl at the end, made up for a week of silence. The weigh-ins, too, are sure to excite. And, of course, the fight offers plenty of intrigue in its own right.

Jeremy: I don't think the fight is going to be a close one. Hear me out. 

People talk about Diaz having this giant reach advantage on McGregor, but the truth is that it's only two inches. That's not a big deal. And McGregor is better than anyone in the sport at using his range. He understands it and knows how to make it work for him.

I think you'll see McGregor come out firing early, throwing front kicks to the body, spinning kicks, left hands. Though he backtracked during Thursday's wild press conference (Warning: Video contains NSFW language)—saying he wanted to "play" with Diaz a bit—he said on Wednesday that he'll be coming out strong. I think that's what you'll see, and I'll be surprised if Diaz makes it out of the second round.

The thing is, I actually got a bit bored just now, talking about the technique and how the fight will go. The fun stuff here is in the buildup, in hearing them talk, in watching a faceoff nearly devolve into a SportsCenter highlight.

McGregor and Diaz are different in the way they carry themselves, but they are each full of pride and honor and anger. Saturday night may not have a title belt involved, and tickets may not be selling the way the UFC figured they would. But there's still a lot on the line, and it feels a whole lot more personal than we thought it would a week ago. You can't ask for much more than that.

Jeremy Botter and Jonathan Snowden are Senior Writers for Bleacher Report.