Each UFC fight week brings multiple chances for the working media to obtain enough material for the dozens of cookie-cutter stories seemingly required in the days approaching a fight.
The open workouts are not one of them. Sure, they are open to the media, and yes, we in the media attend them. But they are designed more as fan events, open to those hardy souls who travel early in the week to take part in every possible festivity provided for them by the promotion.
Today’s UFC 196 workouts were no exception. Held in the small Jabbawockeez Theater (where the white-masked dance troupe performs a regular schedule), today’s workouts were filled to the brim with fans and media. Most of them, as you might suspect, were there to either see Conor McGregor or to interview him, because McGregor just plain makes our jobs easier.
It is not easy to get him to adhere to anything resembling a schedule. He shows up when he wants and does what he wants. But when he does eventually show up, all you have to do is take notes. He gives you the words; you just have to do your part in turning them into something readable or “clickable,” as so many of my brethren prefer these days.
It is usually McGregor who shoulders the heavy promotional load. This week, he has something of a willing partner in Nate Diaz, the mercurial Stockton native who has a fierce and foul-mouthed following of his own. Diaz showed up on time for his 1pm workout, and he did so while wearing his Reebok fight kit. And so right there, you have Diaz doing the unexpected, happily going along with the UFC’s draconian wishes, being a professional and doing his job.
Oh, he still got on the microphone with workout host Megan Olivi and dropped a few f-bombs. He is a Diaz, after all, forever raging against the corporate machine even while part of it. But then he walked into the middle of a media scrum and held forth for fifteen minutes, answering questions in what appeared to be a polite manner.
I say “appeared to be” because, well, I couldn’t hear anything. As I said before, the fans were waiting on McGregor, and they bided their time by singing and being loud. I tried to read Nate’s lips, but he’s never been known for the clarity of his speaking, so that was impossible.
I eventually gave up and walked outside the theater with a Irish media friend. We sat there talking about Saturday, about why so many tickets for UFC 196 are still unsold and about why the Irish fans are traveling in far smaller numbers for this event than for previous McGregor fights.
As we talked, Diaz and his entourage walked out of the theater, heading back to their rooms: Diaz, his man-mountain bodyguard, a few guys filming everything and other assorted hangers-on. And you know, you and I understand it might not be a good idea to be a stupid a-hole and confront a professional fighter when he’s cutting weight and preparing for a huge fight. And you really don’t want to do that when said fighter is a Diaz, because there’s a good chance they won’t have any qualms about beating you about your head and neck area in response.
Still, the Irish will do their thing, and one young man began screaming at Diaz. There was some singing and then screaming and then it became the same thing, all directed straight at Diaz. The Stockton kid smiled at first, and the Irishman decided to start using his big-boy words as Diaz turned and walked in the opposite direction. And Diaz smiled, but it was more of a grimace than a smile, and he held his hand up in the air and extended his middle finger in the direction of the scream-singing, then kept walking off to the lobby elevators.
The Irish haven’t arrived en masse yet, but when they do, the MGM will be the place to be. Trust me on this. I have covered so many UFC events that they are all mostly a blur, but a McGregor fight week is a special thing for those of us who enjoy people watching. Throw in the volatile Diaz brothers and their wannabe fans, and you have a recipe for a flashpoint that could go off at any time.
It’s fight week.