Conor McGregor Tweets, I'm Back in UFC 200, BUT...

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On Monday (April 25, 2016), Conor McGregor tweeted, "Happy to announce that I am back on UFC 200..."  But when Dana White was asked by TMZ hours later, White denied this.

However, Dana White did say that McGregor may be back in the Octagon as early as UFC 201.  When White was asked why McGregor posted that tweet, White responded, "I don't know...  I don't know why he did.  I still have not talked to him."  But Dana White also said that he is not mad at Conor McGregor.

Who do you believe, Dana White or Conor McGregor?


For those of you who have not been following this entire drama for the past week or two, here's the quick summary:

• Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz was originally scheduled for a rematch at UFC 200.
• Conor McGregor was (and probably still is) training in Iceland with his entire team and he refused to fly to Las Vegas to attend events for promoting UFC 200.
• Dana White and the UFC pulled Conor McGregor from the UFC 200 fight card.
• Conor McGregor announced his retirement on Twitter.
• After being reminded that he would lose the UFC Featherweight title if he is officially retired, McGregor announced that he is not retired, and that he is still ready to fight in UFC 200.  But he still refuses to fly to Vegas to attend promotional events.
• Dana White said, the window for McGregor to get back into UFC 200 is closed.
• At a press conference, Nate Diaz surprised Dana White by announcing that he's not fighting if his opponent is not McGregor.  Diaz said, "If I'm not fighting McGregor, I'm not doing sh*t.  I'm going on vacation."
• Dana White announces that the Diaz-McGregor fight is out of UFC 200.  Two other fighters would replace them.  

Conor McGregor Not Retired but Also Not Back in UFC 200

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Conor McGregor, on his Facebook post, wrote “on the record” that he is not retired.  This is probably because he would lose his featherweight title automatically if he is officially retired.  On his Facebook post, McGregor implied that he had to promote (or “dance”) more than other fighters, including Nate Diaz.

Conor McGregor

“There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop.  50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photoshoots, and at the end of it all, I’m left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation,” wrote McGregor.

I don’t think anyone doubts Conor McGregor’s claim that he had to do more promotions than other fighters, since even his critics have said and written about this (although his critics attributes this to his success and did not see this as a distraction or disadvantage for McGregor.)

“It is time for the other monkeys to dance.  I’ve danced us all the way here.  Nate’s little mush head looks good up on that stage these days.  Stuff him in front of the camera for it.  He came in with no sh*t to do that last one.  I’d already done press conferences, interviews and shot the ads before RDA pulled out.  Maybe I’ll hit Cabo this time and skull some shots pre-fight with no obligation,”  wrote McGregor.

Nate Diaz in an interview after his UFC 196 win over McGregor also mentioned that McGregor had more promotions to do (or was more promoted by the UFC than Diaz), but Diaz did not attribute this factor to McGregor’s loss.  (Instead, Diaz was alluding to the preferential treatments that McGregor gets, as critics of McGregor have also spoken or written about.)

Dana White

                                                             

It’s hard to say who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong, Conor McGregor or Dana White (President of the UFC).  If the promotional events (McGregor is missing) were pre-arranged and both parties agreed to them before McGregor flew himself and his entire team to Iceland, then Dana White would be in the right.  But so far, it does not seem like McGregor and his camp had agreed to this.  (However, this may be generally stated in the fighters’ contracts with the UFC.  In that case, I will let the legal experts analyze this.)

Although the UFC’s promotional events cost a lot of money, so does flying an entire team to Iceland for a fighter.  Also, it sounds like (from his Facebook post) McGregor in the past had shown up at a promotion event without adequate notice and that event also costs the UFC $10 million.

“As a gesture of goodwill,” wrote McGregor.  “I went and not only saved that $10 million dollars in promotion money.  I then went and tripled it for them.  And all with one tweet.  Keep that 10 million to promote the other bums that need it.  My shows are good.”

The million dollar question right now is: Will Dana White and the UFC allow Conor McGregor back on the fight card at UFC 200?  

I highly doubt it.  From a business’ standpoint, if the UFC allows McGregor back on the card at UFC 200, that sends a message to other fighters that the UFC does not want to send.

Furthermore, this is confirmed when White was asked if McGregor would be allowed back on the UFC 200 fight card and White responded, “...the window is pretty much closed.” 

  

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