In an atomic-sized sporting bombshell, UFC President Dana White has confirmed featherweight champ Conor McGregor is a no-go for the UFC 200 main event against Nate Diaz, scheduled for July 9.
Fresh off McGregor’s ambiguous ‘retirement’ announcement, White confirmed the decision to axe him from UFC 200 was made after he flat-out refused to participate in any promotional activities for the fight, including a commercial shoot and press conferences – which cost, and bring in, a shit-ton of money for the UFC.
“Conor did not want to come to Las Vegas and film the commercial or be a part of any other marketing that we have… this has only happened one other time, in UFC history… when Nick Diaz didn’t show up for the press conference with his fight with Georges St-Pierre and I pulled [him] from the fight,” White told ESPN. “You have to do the press conference. It’s mandatory.”
It’s a ballsy move by McGregor – least of all because he was set to rake in about US$15 mill for the Diaz biff – but it’s an even ballsier move for the UFC to pull its biggest moneymaker from what’s arguably the biggest fight in history.
Our guess is that greedy-guts McGregor pushed the UFC for an even bigger pay-packet than the one he had lined uo and threw a temper tanty when things didn’t go his way; then White’s decided to call his bluff, and here we are.
The UFC is currently working on a new main event for the card but whatever they pull together won’t be even a quarter as buzzy as McGregor v. Diaz.
Other fights already set for the Vegas event include two title matches, with Miesha Tate defending her UFC women’s bantamweight crown against Amanda Nunes, and Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar going fist-to-fist for the interim featherweight title (if McGregor *is* out of the UFC for good, the Aldo vs. Edgar fight may be for the undisputed title).
This is some hot bullshit, tbh.
Source: ESPN.
