UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is confident heading to UFC 196, where he will get the chance to wrest the UFC lightweight crown currently held by Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos.

The upcoming March 5 event seems to be the toughest challenge that McGregor has faced yet though president Dana White believes that if there is anyone who can defy odds, it is ‘The Notorious’.

"That is true that normally I would say if you're going to move up in weight, you have to give up the belt, but Conor has done everything he said he would do. He loves to fight. He really likes money, so if anybody could do it, it's probably him," he was quoted saying last month at a UFC Tonight episode via MMAFighting.com.

However, now it seems that White is singing a different tune. The UFC president told the Buzzer that he doesn’t see how McGregor can overcome dos Anjos this March, which somehow contradicts the confidence he earlier had on the Irishman.

His basis for it is sensible. For one, McGregor is moving up a weight (about 10 lbs. heavier) and will be facing someone who is pretty comfortable beating down guys in record time.

Dos Anjos has taken down the likes of Anthony Petttis and Donald Cerrone with TKOs in the first round, leading White to call him an animal in his division.

How can someone lighter stand up to that?

The comments made by White do seem odd, but many feel that it is a tactic to build hype and interest for UFC 196, as per the Bleacher Report.

McGregor has defied the odds, but questions now arise on the power behind his strikes against someone like dos Anjos. His agility is expected to still be there and dos Anjos will likely try to hold him down and then render the familiar punishment he has done on past opponents.

Either way, McGregor is the obvious beneficiary of the fight. If he wins, he becomes the only two-division champion the UFC has ever had. If he loses, he still keeps his featherweight title and moves on.

With that said, the fight has more meaning to dos Anjos who would lose the title while at the same time not hear the end of McGregor’s infamous blabbering.

Some see McGregor as an underdog but this early, expect ‘The Notorious’ to come up with another surprise game plan, though it is hard to believe he can repeat that 13-second knockout that unseated dos Anjos’ friend Jose Aldo at UFC 194.