Tag: Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz II

Former UFC Champ: Dana White Is Throwing A ‘Fit’ Over McGregor

Exactly one week after UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor ‘retired’ with a now-infamous tweet, it’s probably safe to say that we haven’t seen a media circus quite like this one in MMA’s entire existence. Dana White responded to McGregor’s supposed stepping down by clarifying that the promotion had pulled ‘The Notorious’ from rematch with Nate

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Exactly one week after UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor ‘retired’ with a now-infamous tweet, it’s probably safe to say that we haven’t seen a media circus quite like this one in MMA’s entire existence.

Dana White responded to McGregor’s supposed stepping down by clarifying that the promotion had pulled ‘The Notorious’ from rematch with Nate Diaz in the UFC 200 headliner when he refused to leave Iceland to attend last Friday’s press conference, and even though the at-times emotional exec said the fences could be mended if the Irish superstar contacted him, it appears as if the UFC is sticking to their guns.

Never was that more clear than yesterday (Mon., April 25, 2016), when McGregor tweeted that he was back on UFC 200 in addition to his gratitude to his employers. White was quick to rebuff that statement to both TMZ and The Los Angeles Times, and here we stand with the UFC holding steadfast in an effort to not give ‘The Notorious’ any more preferential treatment than he’s already gotten.

However, one former UFC champion thinks that White and Lorenzo Fertitta should do just that. Discussing the scenario in a recent appearance with Submission Radio, revered UFC legend and outspoken personality Don Frye spoke up with his view that McGregor was indeed right because the UFC’s promotional schedule is too much, and they should have given him space to train:

“I think he’s right. He’s spot on. I mean that takes so much god damn time away from you. You’re hired to be a fighter not to be an interview, you know, or interviewee. You’ve got things to do. When you’re training for a fight it’s a 24/7 job, and if they got you doing more interviews and promoting than they do fighting, well then you’re not going to last long. You’re not going to have a long career.”

According to Frye, White is now throwing one of his normal ‘fits’ that began when McGregor attempted to make a power play. Frye noted that fighting is an extremely  demanding sport on one’s body,and McGregor must be prepared:

“How do I say this without being rude? I guess I can’t, so I’ll piss on it. You know, Dana likes everything his way and if he doesn’t get his way he throws a fit, and that’s what’s happening. You know, and Conor’s spot on, man. You can’t spend more time doing interviews than training. This is a dangerous sport, okay? And the thing is, it went from a fight to a sport to a TV show. And it’s still a dangerous thing. And so you gotta prepare yourself for it, because shit, just training – if you’re in one of those fights and you’re not hurt, you don’t get hurt, it still takes two weeks to recover cause of all the hard training. But if you’re not training you’re going to get hurt.”

As far as what Frye said he would do to fix UFC 200’s main event, his plan was to completely give in to McGregor’s demands to save the show, which would certainly lose millions of dollars if he didn’t fight. It may or may not work, but it could be a moot point as the UFC doesn’t appear to be willing to bargain as Frye suggested:

“Ah hell, I would fly Conor in and take him out, wine him and dine him, tell him, ‘Okay, what do I gotta do to get you on the fight card and how many promos can I get from ya?’ You know, ‘We gotta push the show so we’re going to need some interviews. So how many are you willing to do?’”

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Dana White: Conor McGregor Could Fight This Summer, But Not On UFC 200

The circus act that is Conor McGregor media week rolls onward. While attending “Dancing With The Stars” to support UFC strawweight Paige VanZant in Beverly Hills, UFC President Dana White spoke to TMZ Sports on the possibility of “Notorious” getting back on the UFC 200 card. “We’ll get it figured out”, said White. “He’ll fight

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The circus act that is Conor McGregor media week rolls onward. While attending “Dancing With The Stars” to support UFC strawweight Paige VanZant in Beverly Hills, UFC President Dana White spoke to TMZ Sports on the possibility of “Notorious” getting back on the UFC 200 card.

“We’ll get it figured out”, said White. “He’ll fight on 201, 202, 203 — whatever.” 

McGregor sent the world-wide MMA media into a buzz once again after tweeting out that he had been put back onto the promotion’s blockbuster July card.

McGregor thanked UFC President Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta for “getting this one done for the fans.” When asked why the Irishman would tweet such a thing, White seemed just as puzzled as anyone.

“I don’t know why he did. I still haven’t talked to him. We had a whole press conference about this. I just don’t know how more clear I can make it.”

UFC 200 was set to be headlined by the rematch between McGregor and Diaz after the Stockton native handed “Notorious” his first UFC loss back in early March.

McGregor, however, refused to attend a press event in Vegas to promote the event, claiming it would interfere with his preparation for the bout. White would then go on to remove McGregor from the card, stating the media obligations where not optional.

Following his removal from the event McGregor would send the fight world into a frenzy by contemplating retirement and then releasing an official statement via Facebook.

McGregor has yet to explain his most recent skeptical tweet, however it appears UFC brass is sticking to their guns and holding the Irish superstar off the historic summer card.

At least, for now.

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Nate Diaz Says He’s On Vacation With Conor McGregor Off UFC 200

It seems Nate Diaz has had enough of Conor McGregor’s ‘retirement’ talk and all the drama that goes along with it. McGregor infamously tweeted out his early retirement on Tuesday last week (April 19, 2016), and the ensuing windfall consumed the entire MMA universe in a week of back-and-forth tension between ‘Notorious’ and the UFC

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It seems Nate Diaz has had enough of Conor McGregor’s ‘retirement’ talk and all the drama that goes along with it.

McGregor infamously tweeted out his early retirement on Tuesday last week (April 19, 2016), and the ensuing windfall consumed the entire MMA universe in a week of back-and-forth tension between ‘Notorious’ and the UFC that continues to this day.

UFC President Dana White stood firm that the promotion removed the brash Irish wordsmith from his anticipated (at least by him) rematch with Diaz at the blockbuster UFC 200 this summer due to McGregor’s refusal to show up for a press conference for the event last Friday as he stayed in Iceland to continue training.

McGregor, who un-retired last Thursday with a seething, scintillating statement that focused on his own belief that he had earned certain exceptions due to his massive drawing pay-per-view (PPV) performances. But the UFC didn’t agree. And when Diaz showed up to the press conference in question, the Stockton vet said he wouldn’t fight anyone but McGregor at UFC, instead choosing to go on vacation after stopping McGregor at UFC 196.

Tonight, he’s apparently made good on that promise, posting the following message on Twitter:

He apparently remains off of UFC 200, too, as the ‘Notorious’ tweeted that he had thankfully made his way back to the card early this morning, only to be rebuffed by White, who said he hadn’t talked with McGregor or his management.

While varied viewpoints could hold at least some weight on both sides of the tale here, one thing is fully certain: McGregor being off the biggest card of 2016 is a massively financial hit to the UFC, rumored to be in the $45 million range. Diaz on vacation and off the card doesn’t help, either, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the two sides work things out to get both high-profile competitors back on UFC 200.

It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the UFC stick to their guns and leave Diaz on vacation.

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Conor McGregor’s Coach Thinks UFC Is Taking It Too Far

Appearing in an interview today (Mon., April 25, 2016) on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, SBG Ireland head-coach John Kavanagh commented on the craziness that has been going on this week with his longtime student, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor. Kavanagh first commented on McGregor’s Monday morning tweet saying he was back on the UFC

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Appearing in an interview today (Mon., April 25, 2016) on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, SBG Ireland head-coach John Kavanagh commented on the craziness that has been going on this week with his longtime student, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor.

Kavanagh first commented on McGregor’s Monday morning tweet saying he was back on the UFC 200 card:

“I do know that we left Iceland very early this morning”, Kavanagh said. “And we ended up getting separated and went different ways. I turned my phone on, I was with Gunny and Paddy Houlahan, and things started going crazy when I saw this message.

Now I didn’t know about this, and neither did his manager so it was news to both of us when we saw. I hadn’t been speaking to Conor since because I’ve had a bit of a day with Paddy”, he said. “I presume I’m gonna see Conor this afternoon in training and get the exact news.”

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Kavanagh also touched on how serious “The Notorious” was when he pondered the idea of early retirement:

“That was not a joke. I’ll tell you how I found out was I was coaching Gunnar in Iceland. He showed up late for the session,”  he said.

“I was telling him to hurry up and get on the mat we’re starting. He went, “Oh yeah, ‘I just retired.’ And I said, “Okay well, let’s just do the session and then we’ll talk about that”. So ya we trained for a couple of hours, we went outside I turned on my phone and I’d seen he’d actually put it out there. And ya he was content to leave it at that. That was not a joke”.

The SBG head coach also tried to make amends with the UFC himself by reaching out to UFC President Dana White:

“I did it on Wednesday, last Wednesday”, Kavanagh explained. “I just tried to put my case across, and sort of explain. We’re doing everything different for this fight. There’s a really new approach to what we’re doing. 

“I don’t really mind losses, I see it as a necessary step for success no matter what you do in life, but only if you learn from the loss. If you lose and you don’t see what went wrong and don’t make changes, well then you will continue to lose.

“Whereas we very much made a lot of changes and we were in a really great place. Some new members on the team, we were really hitting the ground running in Portugal and we were getting some great stuff done. I knew it would completely throw everything off.”

conor mcgregor PPV record UFCKavanagh also assured that McGregor is in good spirits following this week’s tumultuous media frenzy:

“He’s in a great place, we did two great weeks training. We did a week in Portugal, then we did a great week in Iceland and we were there as well obviously helping Gunnar, and he always gets a real buzz out of being in his company.

“He’s not against doing media”, Kavanagh explained. “It was just, at that particular time, that amount of travel, and losing momentum of what we were starting was just going to be detrimental physically and I believe psychologically as well.

Kavanagh was also disappointed to hear that Dana White is reluctant to put McGregor on the promotion’s first event at MSG in New York:

“That was hard to hear. I really think that’s going too far.”

“We get the slap on the wrist for 200, we definitely can’t be put on the naughty step for New York. As an Irish guy in New York and the first card at Madison Square Garden. I think conor will show up anyway and fight someone in the training room if they don’t put him on the card.”

Kavanagh believes that the UFC and McGregor could have worked out other possibilities for the press conference in this day and age of technology.

“The way the world is now, you don’t have to be physically at places to be involved in things. I don’t know what this obsession is with Vegas. UFC is a global sport, not a Vegas sport. I don’t see why everything has to be done there.

“Is there anyone in the MMA world that didn’t want to see that fight?” Kavanagh asked. “Was there the need to spend $10 million on that ad?

“This was Conor getting up at 7:45 a.m. — and I can’t tell you how unusual that is unless you know him the way I do,” Kavanagh said. … “He’d become this soldier. I basically said if it comes down to the press conference or the fight, we’ve gotta let that one go.”

ConorMcGregorSigningAutosIn the end, Kavanagh remains hopeful that the issues between “Notorious” and the UFC can be resolved before the July card.

“It seems to be swinging the right way and we’re aiming and we’re training for 200,” Kavanagh said. “We’re hoping for good news.”

“I don’t think we’ve gone past any point of no return,” he said. “There’s mutual respect from both parties. Dana and Lorenzo and those guys are sensible businessmen. This is just one of those things. I have no doubt that we’ll continue with the tradition for his next fight. Lorenzo will bring in his bottle of Midleton and we’ll do our usual toast and we’ll carry on.”

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Dana White Denies Conor McGregor Is Back On UFC 200

MMA’s biggest media circus just can’t seem to get its story in order. After UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor tweeted that he was back on UFC 200 following his short-lived ‘retirement’ last week and thanked his employers: Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200! Shout out to @danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting

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MMA’s biggest media circus just can’t seem to get its story in order.

After UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor tweeted that he was back on UFC 200 following his short-lived ‘retirement’ last week and thanked his employers:

However, UFC President Dana White fired back with confirmation that it just wasn’t the case.

Speaking with The Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire, White stated he hasn’t talked to McGregor and he remains off the card by stating McGregor’s tweet is “not true.”:

“We haven’t talked [to] Conor or his manager since the press conference. I don’t know why he would tweet that.”

White was famously miffed at the many media members who continuously probed him about McGregor actually being off of the July blockbuster from Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena, insisting that he was and it was a non-issue.

But that seemed to be exactly the opposite earlier this morning, and it was little surprise to se ‘The Notorious’ potentially back in his main event rematch with Nate Diaz as the company’s biggest financial success and arguably their biggest star.

But McGregor’s return to UFC 200 has been shot down by White, who apparently remains perturbed at his superstar and unwilling to back down on his stance.

There will be more twists and turns in this seemingly never-ending saga. Stay tuned.

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Conor McGregor Makes Another Huge Announcement

According to “The Notorious One” himself, UFC brass has re-entered Conor McGregor back into the main event slot at UFC 200. McGregor tweeted the news early Monday morning: Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200! Shout out to @danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting this one done for the fans. #Respect — Conor

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According to “The Notorious One” himself, UFC brass has re-entered Conor McGregor back into the main event slot at UFC 200. McGregor tweeted the news early Monday morning:

McGregor was initially removed from the card for refusing to attend the press conference that took place in Las Vegas this past Friday to promote the blockbuster event, claiming it would interfere with his training for the man who handed him his first UFC loss.

UFC President Dana White deemed this unacceptable and removed McGregor from the main event of the card, which was to be a rematch against Nate Diaz.

Diaz, who attended the press conference in Vegas Friday, said he had no interest in fighting anyone but McGregor at UFC 200 and would take a vacation otherwise. It seems that the original main event between Diaz and McGregor has been restored and we will see the two stars clash again afterall.

The UFC has yet to make an official announcement as to weather McGregor is in fact back on the card, however the Irishman is definitely confident that it is now a certainty.

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