Why no Rafael dos Anjos at Saturday's UFC 196? His football-shaped foot isn't helping

UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos was supposed to headline Saturday’s UFC 196 mega-card, but looking at his foot, it’s clear to see why he’s off the card.

Dos Anjos (25-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC), who’s No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, was slated to fight featherweight champ and No. 1-ranked 145-pounder Conor McGregor (19-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in a 155-pound title fight. However, when dos Anjos recently announced a foot injury, Nate Diaz (18-10 MMA, 13-8 UFC) stepped as a replacement for the matchup, which became a welterweight non-title bout.

McGregor subsequently mocked dos Anjos and called it a simple “bruise on the foot” (watch the video above).

However, based on dos Anjos’ photos, his football-shaped foot was in no condition for the pay-per-view event, which takes place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena (via Instagram):

????—>>>Changing my cast today, healing up well, I'll be back training in 6 weeks||????—>>>Trocando o gesso hoje, bem melhor, em 6 semanas já estou de volta aos treinos #Jesus #Jesusfirst #Godswill #evolvemma #evolvefightteam #fletcherjonesnewportbeach #hayabusa

A photo posted by Rafael Dos Anjos (@rdosanjosmma) on Mar 3, 2016 at 2:11pm PST

Here’s how it looked a week ago:

????—>>>Me desculpem todos os fans de verdade e ao @ufc , em toda minha carreira de 32 lutas eu nunca precisei cancelar luta por conta de uma lesão mas num esporte de contato isso acontece, creio que Deus sabe de todas as coisa e o melhor está por vir!||????—>>>Sorry to all my real fans and @ufc, I have 32 professional fights on my career and I never cancel any fight due to injuries, but it is a contact sport and injuries happen, I believe that God knows everything and he have a better plans for me #Jesus #Jesusfirst #truechampion #fletcherjonesnewportbeach #evolvefightteam #evolvemma #kingsmma #gordojj

A photo posted by Rafael Dos Anjos (@rdosanjosmma) on Feb 23, 2016 at 6:46pm PST

According to dos Anjos, he’ll start training again in six weeks.

For more on UFC 196, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.