Notice Conor McGregor pulled from UFC 200, UFC NYC

DFW says he didn't want to do a presser.
McGoat says he didn't want to do an unrealistic mini world tour.

He had issues with the Aldo tour, so I tend to lean more towards McGoat's story but sprinkled with some DFW story.

In the end, I feel this will be resolved.

 

Dave Meltzer says the UFC stands to lose up to $40 million without McGregor on the card.

 

Now that I've had some time to digest all of this I will give my thoughts.

I don't think this is very much about the death of the fighter in Ireland. I think that is a separate issue.

I seem to recall some weeks ago reading about Dana White saying McGregor "demanded" the rematch with Diaz. McGregor's coach refuted that and since we have to assume everything Dana says is at least a half-lie I will side with John Kavanagh. I don't think he was nearly as keen on this rematch as the UFC was on striking (again) while the iron was hot. I think McGregor wanted a minute to collect himself after the loss and they didn't give him one. Instead they ploughed ahead with the plans for the rematch. This wouldn't be the thousandth time they've announced a fight before both fighters had agreed as a tactic to force them to sign. Having it at 170-lbs. was a ploy by the UFC to get McGregor to agree--you won't even have to cut weight! I think his camp reluctantly agreed to the fight.

Time went on and McGregor stayed out of the public eye. Went back to the lab so to speak. UFC's like ok, we need to promote this, let's hold a big event in April. No reason to have 2.5-months lead time on selling tickets since they will sell out in an hour anyway. I mean FFS they have not one but two PPV's coming up in the meantime (excluding Jones/OSP) and they just did their "Unstoppable" presentation but w/e, this is what they want to do. Conor's had some time away from being their leading man and hell, he's in Iceland, talk about being on the DL. The UFC calls him 'hey, fly out, we need to do a WORLD TOUR for UFC 200 and you need to be front/centre to hype up this fight you aren't really that into.' McGregor's cool on the idea. They pressure him.

This is when things buckle. 'I want to stay here and train.' 'No, come do this press tour.' 'I'm not really even into this fight why don't you postpone this stuff.' 'No it has to be now.' 'Fine but I want $10-million for the fight and I want to take a year off afterward.' 'No that isn't the deal we had.' 'Otherwise forget it.' 'No you are under contract.' 'Fuck your contract.' 'No you'll never fight again.' 'So I'll never fight again fuck you I retire.' 'We'll pull you from the fight and strip your belt.' 'I'm retired! I'm Tweeting it now!' *Click* and the UFC calls Cowherd and get their side of the story out ASAP.

/fanfiction I guess but this is my impression.

 

speeds, I think that is a very plausible situation and honestly...probably not too far from what actually transpired.

I find it extremely curious as to why DFW didn't strip Conor of the belt and name the Edgar/Aldo fight as the new FW champ fight. Obviously, Dana and Conor are at odds on something right now and it blew up into this. I remember when Conor did that press tour for Aldo/Conor; he hated it. I remember towards the end of it he stated how hard it was to train full time and fulfill these obligations. I bet you it was the same thing with this. After he lost to Diaz, there were numerous reports that he was obsessed with getting back into training and fighting ASAP. He never mentioned an immediate rematch, like you pointed out. McGoat talked about defending his 145 lb belt. I highly suspect DFW was the culprit to the UFC 200 rematch. I have a feeling that rumor that Zuffa is looking to sell is the reason why this rematch was instantaneous, also.

At the end of the day, I feel the UFC and Conor will work it out. I feel DFW will cut back the press obligations and allow Conor the time he feels is proper to train. It can't be easy on your body to train and travel consistently like that. If the press want Conor so fucking bad, they can go see him in Iceland and they can go see Nate in Stockton. Conor makes too much money for the UFC to have him sidelined. I would guess there is a 50/50% chance he ends up on UFC 200. If not, I think things will be squared away by the time the UFC has their NYC event. Conor will surely headline that.

Speaking of Nate, he tweeted out that he was retiring also. Granted, he was probably joking...but he gets screwed probably worse than Conor in all of this. He now loses out on main eventing UFC 200 and an even bigger pay day than UFC 196. There's a boxing website that is reporting that Nate's retirement tweet was pretty serious, as well. Supposedly he wasn't fond of the media and travel obligations and wanted more money to fulfill them.

 

Good article from Kevin Iole

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/making...ll-conor-mcgregor-from-ufc-200-032550502.html

 

I think Iole deserves the amount of shit he gets from the hardcore fans but this is about as evenhanded an article as I've seen him write. He doesn't mention the possibility that McGregor is less invested in this fight than the UFC would like us to believe but that is my own speculation and it might not be true.

Iole basically calls DFW & Zo childish, petty assholes in this article without really saying it outright. They love to feud and they will kill McGregor's career if they feel slighted enough. The names Iole mentioned-- Couture, GSP, etc.-- hard not to notice those are guys that DFW especially tried to BURY even before they had left the company.

Once again the fighters could really do with an association. They will always be bullied no matter their stature otherwise. The UFC does not care about their athletes they care about their brand.

Edit: should note that I think Iole's matchmaking ideas are far-fetched. Giving lightweight Diaz a title shot at welterweight for beating a featherweight is pretty ludicrous. Diaz's WW record is 1-2, IIRC, beating a blown-up Rory Markham and losing handily to DHK and RedKing. Jones/Cormier 2 is going to happen in New York.

 

Chael also thinks the UFC will push really hard to get GSP in there. However if they wont allow him to wear his UA gear or his gi they won't get him from the sounds of it.

Also Chael believes Conor tried to renegotiate which is likely. Money is usually the answer in these situations.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/4/2...nnen-thinks-conor-mcgregor-made-a-big-mistake

 

DFW is on FS1 right now. He's saying that Conor's manager wanted all of the press stuff moved to May. He did not want to attend the event this Friday.

DFW is relationship saving though...paraphrased: The fans say the UFC babies Conor, Dana babies Conor...he can do whatever he wants...Well no...you can't. Yah, Conor has tons of leeway because he delivers. Conor absolutely delivers. It wasn't a combative phone call.

So my next question is...what are the odds that Conor crashes the press conference on Friday?

 

"Conor and the UFC's relationship is perfectly fine."

"It's not a money issue. Never, ever was this about money."

"I do not think he's retiring. I believe he will fight for the UFC within the next year."

 

I got a weird feeling this is a damn media stunt and Conor's gonna show up and talk shit to everyone but Nate lol.

 

According to the reporter that broke the news that DFW pulled Conor from 200, Conor has been in constant contact with the UFC today and expects the issues to be resolved.

No word on if Conor expects to be back on 200, but he's still trained today with Gunnar Nelson.

 

I am just trying to do my job and fight here. I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote. I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting. 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 photo shoots, 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. And the many distractions that led to this. Nothing else was going through my mind. It is time to go back and live the life that got me this life. Sitting in a car on the way to some dump in Conneticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Suzie on the nobody gives a fuck morning show did not get me this life. Talking to some lady that deep down doesn't give a fuck about what I'm doing, but just wants some sound bites so she can maybe get her little tight ass a nice raise, and I'm cool with that too, I've been giving you all raises. But I need to focus on me now. I'm coming for my revenge here. I flew an entire team to Portugal and to Iceland to make my adjustments in preparation and fix my errors I made with the weight and the cardio prep. With the right adjustments and the right focus, I will finish what I started in that last fight. I will not do this if I am back on the road handing out flyers again. I will always play the game and play it better than anybody, but just for this one, where I am coming off a loss, I asked for some leeway where I can just train and focus. I did not shut down all media requests. I simply wanted a slight adjustment. But it was denied. There had been 10 million dollars allocated for the promotion of this event is what they told me. So as a gesture of good will, 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 mill to promote the other bums that need it. My shows are good. I must isolate myself now. I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time. I can not dance for you this time. 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 shit 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. I'm doing what I need for me now. It is time to be selfish with my training again. It is the only way. I feel the $400million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway. I am still ready to go for UFC 200. I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training. With no distractions. If this is not enough or they feel I have not deserved to sit this promotion run out this one time, well then I don't know what to say. For the record also - For USADA and for the UFC and my contract stipulations - I AM NOT RETIRED.

 

Ball is in the UFC's court, now.

Do they put him back into the event or do they stick to their guns and keep him out?

 

They'll keep him out because DFW isn't going to be bullied by one of his fighters.

I agree 100% with McGregor. I like that he realizes he got caught up into the celebrity appeal of it all. He has bent over backwards to make DFW and the Fritter brothers $$$. If they can't cut him some fucking slack for one press conference, then they don't deserve to have his PPV sales for UFC 200. Its become a big fucking joke this entire thing. I'm glad he's not retired and now I want to see him come back and KO everyone.

That was an awesome response. It was level headed and mature. How does DFW combat that ?