It came as a shock to many UFC fans when Conor McGregor casually floated out a tweet announcing his retirement from the sport in which he said, “I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya’s later.” In fact, the causal nature of the tweet was even interpreted by many fans as joke.
A few hours after this tweet aired, the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship Dana White himself announced that Conor McGregor has been yanked from UFC fight night 200 from the main event opposite Nate Diaz.
For nearly six hours after the tweet first surfaced, there was silence as both Dana White and McGregor’s manager Audie Attar refused to respond to questions that came flooding in from the media. Finally White broke the silence and said that Conor McGregor had been pulled from UFC 200 since he did not or could not make it to the press conference, for promotional photos or for any other marketing campaigns. White said that Nick Diaz had failed to show up to the press conference of his fight and White had pulled him and so he will continue to treat all fighters in the same manner. They might not have the time or inclination, but if they want to feature on UFC fight night then they are going to have to make some compromises somewhere or the other said UFC president Dana White.
When asked about whether or not Conor McGregor was seriously retiring from the sport, Dana White maintained that he did not know for sure, he said that since it was McGregor how tweeted that tweet, it was only him he would know whether he is actually retiring or just playing the fool.
On the other hand, it looks like Nick Diaz has had a change of mind and will in fact be flying to Las Vegas for promotional efforts and the pre-fight press conference. The UCF is in the process of putting together a fight for Nick Diaz.
Dana White also remarked that he still continues to respect Conor McGregor as a fighter and likes him as a person.