White announced on Saturday that McGregor was definitely not going to fight at UFC 200.
Advertisement
“I came to fight Conor McGregor. Is it too much to ask to shoot a commercial or to do the promotion for the fight?”
Diaz, who attended the press conference in Vegas Friday, said he had no interest in fighting anyone but McGregor at UFC 200 and would take a vacation otherwise.
But White dismissed that possibility, saying that allowing McGregor a route back into what shapes up as the biggest event in UFC history would set a risky precedent.
He said the UFC has been criticized “for bending too much for Conor – and we do”. A lot of these guys came in from different parts of the world.
“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”.
“It’s part of the job, it’s what we do here”, White said. “I respect Conor very much as a fight, and I like him, but you have to show up and do this stuff”.
McGregor is the biggest pay-per-view attraction the UFC has, but White said the card will have plenty of attractive fights.
“It’s an unpopular decision, but it’s the right decision”, White said. “Conor has a huge fan base, people love to see him fight…”
McGregor seemed to blame the promotional load for his recent upset loss to Nate Diaz.
McGregor was due to do battle with Diaz in a rematch at UFC 200, but the Irishman announced his retirement this week before back-tracking. However, the reason McGregor has been given so much leeway throughout his UFC career is because of how much money he brings to the company.
“I am paid to fight”, he posted.
“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”, he wrote.
Advertisement
McGregor, who is wildly popular for his trash talking and brawling fighting style, lost to Diaz last month in a major upset after Diaz choked him out in the second round of the main event.
