Attending press conferences, however, is another story.
You didn’t think a small disagreement with Conor McGregor was going to stop Dana White from praising one of his biggest stars, did you?
Sure, “Notorious” may have forced the hand of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) when he refused to make the long trip from Iceland to Las Vegas for promotional duties, but White says at the end of the day, McGregor is still a stud who always comes to fight.
Sadly, though, the fiery Irishman didn’t want to play the game this time around and fulfill all of his PR duties which ultimately cost him his headlining spot — and Nate Diaz rematch — at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 in “Sin City.”
White revealed during the recent UFC 200 press conference (see it again here) how he was willing to bend and accommodate McGregor with whatever he needed, but “Notorious” had other plans. As far as the inconvenience of having the Irishman travel across the globe to answer questions from the media, White says Conor wasn’t the only one who was asked to make the sacrifice.
He explains:
“First off, I didn’t prevent Conor from fighting in UFC 200. I did not. If you look at the press conference, Joanna Jedrzejczyk flew in from Poland. Claudia came in from Brazil, as did Aldo. People came in from all over the world. Frankie is just getting home and hasn’t seen his family. This is what we do, this is how it works. I didn’t prevent him from fighting at UFC 200. He knew what the deal was, I told him what the deal was and he opted to do that. Listen, Conor asked to fight Nate Diaz. Conor wants to fight Nate Diaz. If we are in Brazil we got Brazil guys and if we are in New York we got New York guys, Conor doesn’t back down from fights. One of the things that has made Conor popular and as big as he is, is that this dude wants to fight. This guy comes to fight and he comes out guns blazing. Conor is fun, Conor is a stud, Conor is; I have a lot of respect for Conor. Conor and I just had a, you know, you have to show up and do the PR. You have to do it. It wasn’t a set up today when Daniel Cormier said he wanted to see his kid’s performance, believe me I understand, I have kids and I respect that. And we streamed it live for him so he could watch his kid perform. There were things that Conor needed and I was willing to make sure Conor would have the things he needs when he landed in Las Vegas, came to New York or wherever else we went. We don’t just say, ‘you have to do this.’ I will bend and I will do things to make it work for these guys and girls. And Conor didn’t do it. That’s the truth, the whole truth and that’s the way it is.”
Still thinking he’s throwing a fit, Don?
Of course, Team McGregor agrees that the mutual respect between both parties is still good despite the recent hiccup, which will undoubtedly cost both sides millions of dollars. However, one press conference ultimately got in the way of an otherwise healthy business partnership.
But only temporarily.
Moving forward, White says Conor is still employed by the promotion and could fight as soon as UFC 201 or 202, but UFC 200 is now completely out of the picture thanks to this.
This whole New York thing, however, is still very much up in the air.