UFC president Dana White defended Conor McGregor from any “diva” claims during his TMZ interview, but signs aren’t pointing towards him wanting his UFC 200 main event spot back.
UFC president Dana White has been busy making the media rounds on Wednesday, as he and his team are trying to sort out what to do with UFC 200 after Conor McGregor was pulled from the main event slot vs. Nate Diaz. While McGregor tweeted his apparent retirement from the sport, White said they removed McGregor due to his refusal to attend commercial shoots and a Las Vegas press conference set for later this week. White vehemently squashed reports that money was the reason McGregor isn’t fighting on the card.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Dana White was asked whether or not McGregor was a “diva.” White shot that down quickly.
“No, he’s not,” White said. “Listen, this is one of those things where for whatever reason it is — and I don’t know — he doesn’t want to come out here and do this press conference and didn’t want to do this tour. But you’re talking about a guy who has stepped up and taken fights on late notice [and] will take late opponents. When you’re a fighter and you believe that you’re the best in the world, you’re a diva if you don’t step up and take fights. That’s when you’re a diva.”
On The Herd with Colin Cowherd, White did leave open the possibility that if McGregor had a change of heart, they would put him back on the card. However, White hasn’t heard back at all from McGregor, so he considers it time to move on.
I have not,” White said. “We’re working on other fights right now. We pretty much decided that he didn’t want to show up and he’s not here. The press conference is going to go on on Friday, and that’s that.”
Of course, Nate Diaz is now without an opponent for the UFC’s planned biggest pay-per-view in company history. Diaz did fly out to Las Vegas on Tuesday, and White confirmed that they have been in discussions with Diaz as far as replacement opponents for the July 9th show.
“I didn’t want Nate to get screwed up in this whole deal and not have the opportunity to fight on this card,” White said. “We talked to Nate, we threw out some opponents, and we’ll see what happens.”
Video of the interview can be seen at the top of the page. TMZ Sports airs on Fox Sports 1 tonight at midnight ET/9 PM PT, following the conclusion of the TUF 23 season premiere.