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The UFC is reportedly unhappy with its biggest star, Conor McGregor, who returns at UFC 229 against lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The UFC is reportedly not very happy with Conor McGregor, but there’s not much the promotion can do about that.

McGregor, a former lightweight and featherweight champion, is preparing for his October return against current 155-pound titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC 229 headliner. Unlike previous McGregor blockbuster fights, nearly a month out, there has been little media leading up to potentially the biggest fight in UFC history.

According to Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer newsletter, McGregor has not agreed to much media prior to the Nurmagomedov title bout. But because of McGregor’s stardom and what he financially means to the company simply as an individual, the UFC is certainly unable to deliver any means of punishment.

“One of the reasons you haven’t seen much in the way of interviews and such is that McGregor has not agreed to do anything,” Meltzer wrote (via MMAMania.com). “There are no press conferences scheduled because McGregor at this point hasn’t agreed to them. There is a lot of frustration within the UFC about McGregor’s attitude, but in the end, he’s got the leverage and the ticket sales and secondary market results only give him more leverage.”

According to Meltzer, it might be in the Irishman’s best interest to promote the Nurmagomedov bout to its full potential. That said, the reason McGregor has been rather quiet ahead of his first MMA fight since November 2016 could be because he knows Nurmagomedov will likely give him one of his toughest fights to date.

“The feeling is that this may be the biggest non-boxing PPV of all-time, and the only reason it wouldn’t be is that McGregor hasn’t been pushing it hard,” Meltzer wrote. “McGregor was able to get a larger piece of the action for this fight than any of his UFC fights to date, so there is a direct correlation more than ever between his work in promoting the fight and his pocket book, but this may also show that he knows he’s in a real fight and doesn’t want to break training.”

According to veteran MMA journalist Damon Martin, “The Notorious” is expected to arrive in Las Vegas in mid to late September to finish up his training camp.

UFC 229 takes place Oct. 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

After Tyron Woodley adamantly proclaimed that he won’t accept a short-notice replacement fight against Kamaru Usman should Darren Till fail to make weight for their scheduled Welterweight title fight at UFC 228 on Sept. 8, 2018, the backlash wasn’t pleasant.

As expected.

Still, “The Chosen One” isn’t backing down on his stance, as he says it’s going to be Till or bust come fight night, regardless if he makes weight. And he isn’t going to fall into the trap of being made to look like a “pansy” for not fighting “The Nigerian Nightmare.”

“I’ll fight Usman on a full training camp,” Woodley said during a recent media day (via MMA Fighting). “I’ll fight anybody on a full training camp. I’ll fight you on a full training camp, but I’m not a guy, this is not a circus to me. You’re not going to have me prepare to fight a 6-foot-3 striker southpaw, and then on 24 hours’ notice because this motherf*cker missed weight and he’s unprofessional, now I gotta fight a 5-foot-10 switch-stance wrestler,” he said.

“No, you’re not going to waste my time, you’re not going to money that I put into training camps, you’re not going to add this one crazy variable and make me feel like I’m the pansy for not taking the fight. No, it’s not what happened. So if he’s making some money for making weight, congratulations, he gets some free bags.”

Till has missed weight for tow of his UFC fights, more recently coming in 3.5 pounds over the limit for his fight against Stephen Thompson in his hometown of Liverpool, England. Furthermore, Woodley wasn’t too pleased with UFC after the promotion set an interim title fight between Colby Covington and Rafael dos Anjos, when he was an active champion when not injured.

“I’m already ready to fight him,” Woodley said. “I’m already training. I’m not doing that bullsh*t fight someone on 24 hours. This is not a joke to me. I train my ass off, I put myself in position to be successful. What other champion do you see that does that? Name me one. Name me another champion who defended his title three times in one year and had four world title fights and then had an interim title put in before one year expired? Name me another one. I’m not about the bullsh*t.”

Nevertheless, Woodley is focusing on the task at hand, not Till’s weight issues or his longstanding complicated relationship with UFC.

“I’m a fighter who likes to focus on the fight,” Woodley said. “I don’t want to focus on him making weight, that’s out of my control. I’m going to make weight. Tell me one time you’ve seen me step on the scale and you didn’t see 170 or less. I’m a professional, I’m going to do what I have to to make weight,” he added.

“Whether he’s 170 or 176, he’s still going to get his ass kicked. That’s something that he has to deal with. And his body is going to be beat up from cutting all that weight. He’s probably not doing it the right way. So, it’s going to be to my benefit if he doesn’t make weight.”

Don’ forget your lunch, Till.

A battle of women’s flyweight top contenders will go down on the UFC

With a women’s flyweight title fight coming up next weekend, the UFC is looking to set up the next contender for the belt. That could very well be the winner of a bout that is being set up for UFC 232 – Jessica Eye vs. Sijara Eubanks.

The bout was originally reported by ESPN.

Eye (13-6 1 NC, 3-5, 1 NC UFC) is 2-0 since dropping to flyweight, picking up decision wins over Kalindra Faria and Jessica-Rose Clark. She is currently ranked at number eight at 125 in the official UFC rankings.

Eubanks (3-2, 1-0 UFC) made the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 26 to fight for the inaugural flyweight title, but missed weight and was hospitalized from the cut. Roxanne Modafferi replaced her, but was defeated by current champ Nicco Montano. Eubanks made her official UFC debut in June, defeating Lauren Murphy via unanimous decision. She is currently the number two challenger in the rankings.

UFC 232 goes down in Las Vegas on December 29th. It is expected to be headlined by a super fight between women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes.