While UFC President Dana White insists that Conor McGregor was requesting the Nate Diaz rematch at UFC 200 only at 170 pounds, McGregor’s manager, Audie Attar, disagrees.
According to Attar, McGregor did initially only want the Diaz fight at 170 pounds but after talking with his SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh, McGregor said at the last minute that he would be willing to take the fight at 155 pounds.
“At the 11th hour, before we signed the bout agreement, [McGregor] said, ‘Look, I’m hearing everybody. If everybody wants to do 155, fine. Let’s do 155,'” Attar said Wednesday at a UFC 199 media day. … “The contract was already written at 170. And so, in Conor’s defense, he really didn’t give two sh*ts. He really wanted it at 170, because he wanted to prove he could beat him there.”
“Conor is his own CEO, but intelligently he listens to the people around him and then makes his own final decision,” Attar said. … “He was trying to accommodate and listen to everybody and be a team player to make this happen.”
UFC 200: Diaz vs. McGregor II takes place on Saturday, July 9, 2016 at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing.