He has to be having us on, hasn’t he?
When Rafael dos Anjos pulled out of the main event of UFC 196 with a foot injury, more than ten names were thrown in the mix as potential replacements to step up and face Conor McGregor.
Top contender Tony Ferguson, former challenger Donald Cerrone and trash-talking Nate Diaz were the front-funners.
Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo and Eddie Alvarez were the less likely candidates.
https://twitter.com/MannyGamburyan/status/702173837937356800
But we could be in for even more of a shock if Manny Gamburyan’s Twitter is to be believed.
It emerged on Tuesday afternoon that the unranked Armenian bantamweight had thrown his hat in the ring for a shot at ‘The Notorious.’
MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani documented a text message conversation with Gamburyan, cousin of MMA legend Karo Parisyan, who announced his willingness to take on the Irishman.
"I've fought 155 before & the most important part is he's not gonna scare me w/ his attitude I'm a f*cking crazy Armenian," Gamburyan wrote.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 23, 2016
And while that may appear to be mere posturing on Gamburyan’s behalf, the Judo specialist took to his own Twitter to send out a rather suggestive message, hinting that he had come out on top in the so-called ‘Red Panty Lottery.’
https://twitter.com/MannyGamburyan/status/702191859402043393
This is one, however, that we’ll have to see before we believe.