Well, it looks like the UFC is scrambling to book a new main event for UFC 200, and it appears that they are thinking outside the box.
UFC Lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov recently claimed that UFC officials offered him a fight against Geor…
Well, it looks like the UFC is scrambling to book a new main event for UFC 200, and it appears that they are thinking outside the box.
UFC Lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov recently claimed that UFC officials offered him a fight against Georges St-Pierre or Nate Diaz for the upcoming UFC 200 event in July.
According to “The Eagle,” however, he will not be able to make his Octagon return until September or October.
“Yesterday the UFC called me with a proposal to hold the main bout of the evening against Nate Diaz, or against Georges St-Pierre,” Nurmagomedov told Match TV. “They hope that I will take the fight. But it is four days after the month of Ramadan, and it would be hard physically to fight five rounds. I’ll be back in September and October.”
As things stand now, there is still no new opponent for Diaz at UFC 200, nor has a new main event been announced. Initially, Conor McGregor was to fight Diaz in an immediate rematch at 170 pounds in the main event of UFC 200, however that fight was canceled this week when McGregor refused to take part in his promotional commitments.
UFC 200 is scheduled for Saturday, July 9, 2016 at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After what has already been a long road between Conor McGregor and the UFC this week, “The Notorious” one has taken us on yet another detour.
On Thursday evening, the reigning UFC Featherweight Champion returned to social media with another message …
After what has already been a long road between Conor McGregor and the UFC this week, “The Notorious” one has taken us on yet another detour.
On Thursday evening, the reigning UFC Featherweight Champion returned to social media with another message seemingly directed squarely at the UFC brass.
“I’ve got my bills paid. My money made. And the entire game slayed. #YourMove,” wrote McGregor in his latest tweet on Thursday night.
You can check out McGregor’s latest tweet, which features a photo of McGregor standing in the middle of the road, seemingly playing public “chicken” with UFC executives, below.
As noted, UFC officially pulled the McGregor-Nate Diaz II fight from UFC 200. As things stand right now, UFC officials are working on a new opponent for Diaz and a new main event for UFC 200.
UFC 200 is scheduled for Saturday, July 9, 2016 at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Make sure to visit MMANews.com on 7/9 for the best UFC 200 live results coverage on the web!
Well after a lot of back-and-forth, it appears we have our verdict — McGregor-Diaz II is off …for now.
According to a new TMZ report, the 170-pound rematch between UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor and ranked UFC contender Nate Diaz sched…
Well after a lot of back-and-forth, it appears we have our verdict — McGregor-Diaz II is off …for now.
According to a new TMZ report, the 170-pound rematch between UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor and ranked UFC contender Nate Diaz scheduled for the landmark UFC 200 event in July is officially off.
Earlier this week, while making media appearances, UFC President Dana White claimed that if McGregor called him, the rematch could still potentially remain on the card scheduled for 7/9 in Las Vegas, however on Thursday, McGregor instead went public again with another statement, this time announcing that he is not retired.
The TMZ report claims that for the time being, McGregor-Diaz II is off, which means UFC 200 is now officially without a main event. White also noted during his media appearances that the UFC is working on a new opponent for Diaz for 7/9, as well as another fight to add to the card.
UFC 200 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 9, 2016 from the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Make sure to visit MMANews.com on 7/9 for the best UFC 200 live results coverage on the web!
As promised, Conor McGregor released a new statement on Thursday and as the MMA world expected, “The Notorious” one is not retired after all.
On Thursday morning, the reigning UFC Featherweight Champion issued a lengthy statement, addressing his pre…
As promised, Conor McGregor released a new statement on Thursday and as the MMA world expected, “The Notorious” one is not retired after all.
On Thursday morning, the reigning UFC Featherweight Champion issued a lengthy statement, addressing his previous retirement claim, as well as the entire situation that led to Dana White pulling him from UFC 200.
McGregor, who was scheduled to headline UFC 200 against Nate Diaz in an immediate 170-pound rematch, was pulled from the event by UFC President Dana White earlier this week. However according to McGregor, he is still ready to go for UFC 200 if the promotion wants.
Read Conor McGregor’s complete statement below.
I am just trying to do my job and fight here.
I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote.
I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting.
There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop.
50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photo shoots, and at the end of it all I’m left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation. And the many distractions that led to this.
Nothing else was going through my mind.
It is time to go back and live the life that got me this life.
Sitting in a car on the way to some dump in Conneticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Suzie on the nobody gives a fuck morning show did not get me this life.
Talking to some lady that deep down doesn’t give a fuck about what I’m doing, but just wants some sound bites so she can maybe get her little tight ass a nice raise, and I’m cool with that too, I’ve been giving you all raises. But I need to focus on me now.
I’m coming for my revenge here.
I flew an entire team to Portugal and to Iceland to make my adjustments in preparation and fix my errors I made with the weight and the cardio prep.
With the right adjustments and the right focus, I will finish what I started in that last fight.
I will not do this if I am back on the road handing out flyers again.
I will always play the game and play it better than anybody, but just for this one, where I am coming off a loss, I asked for some leeway where I can just train and focus. I did not shut down all media requests. I simply wanted a slight adjustment.
But it was denied.
There had been 10 million dollars allocated for the promotion of this event is what they told me.
So as a gesture of good will, I went and not only saved that 10 million dollars in promotion money, I then went and tripled it for them.
And all with one tweet.
Keep that 10 mill to promote the other bums that need it. My shows are good.
I must isolate myself now.
I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time.
I can not dance for you this time.
It is time for the other monkeys to dance. I’ve danced us all the way here.
Nate’s little mush head looks good up on that stage these days. Stuff him in front of the camera for it.
He came in with no shit to do that last one. I’d already done press conferences, interviews and shot the ads before RDA pulled out.
Maybe I’ll hit Cabo this time and skull some shots pre-fight with no obligation.
I’m doing what I need for me now.
It is time to be selfish with my training again. It is the only way.
I feel the $400million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway.
I am still ready to go for UFC 200.
I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training. With no distractions.
If this is not enough or they feel I have not deserved to sit this promotion run out this one time, well then I don’t know what to say.
For the record also –
For USADA and for the UFC and my contract stipulations –
I AM NOT RETIRED
Jon Jones had a choice to make in the weeks leading up to UFC 151 several years ago.
Fight Chael Sonnen after Dan Henderson was forced out and defend his light heavyweight title against a dangerous opponent on short notice.
Or decline the contest…
Jon Jones had a choice to make in the weeks leading up to UFC 151 several years ago.
Fight Chael Sonnen after Dan Henderson was forced out and defend his light heavyweight title against a dangerous opponent on short notice.
Or decline the contest.
Jones decided to do the latter, and UFC officials had no choice but to cancel the event completely.
When the same situation – albeit with a few different circumstances – was presented to “Bones” ahead of UFC 197, he made a different decision.
Jones returns this Saturday for the first time in over a year to meet Ovince Saint Preux for the interim title in the main event.
“UFC 151 happened a long time ago,” said Jones, during open workouts Wednesday in Las Vegas (thanks to MMAjunkie for the quotes). “It’s something that some people still hold against me to this day. To get in there for all these fans, saving this card, I thought it would give me some brownie points with the fans.”
After being stripped of the title and suspended following a legal run-in, Jones said it “feels great to be back.”
“I missed the game so much,” he added. “Over the last year, it’s been really though to be a Jon Jones fan. I definitely haven’t made it easy.
“I wanted to do something positive. I wanted to save the day for these guys.”
According to UFC President Dana White, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor could still compete at the landmark UFC 200 event in July if he wants.
After making the announcement that McGregor had been pulled from the UFC 200 main event, where he was scheduled to fight Nate Diaz in a 170-pound rematch of their first meeting at UFC 196, White made additional media rounds where he elaborated on what went down earlier this week.
“So, Conor basically said that he, he didn’t want to come to Las Vegas,” White told Cowherd. “We had a tour planned. We were going to start in Vegas. We were going to then go to Stockton, and then New York. And then he could go back to, you know, to Iceland, where he is right now.
“And he said, ‘I don’t want to do it. I’m not going to come.’ And I was basically saying, ‘You have to come.’ In the history of us owning the UFC, there’s been one time that a guy hasn’t shown up for his press conference, and it was [Nick] Diaz vs. [longtime UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre] GSP [ahead of UFC 137]. I pulled [Nick] Diaz from the fight. You can’t not show up to promote your fight.”
White continued, explaining that despite the outcome, the talks between the UFC and McGregor’s camp “never turned foul.”
It never got combative, and I was talking to his manager,” White said. “They were asking to move all this stuff to May, and you can’t move this. This stuff is in motion. All fans care about is the fights, and that’s all they should care about. Any fan of the UFC [knows] that this happened once before when I pulled Nick Diaz from the fight.
“Everyone likes to talk about how I coddle Conor, and I baby Conor, and Conor can do whatever he wants and all this stuff. No, no you can’t. We do give Conor a lot of leeway because Conor delivers. He wasn’t planning on delivering this weekend and I had to pull him. That’s what had to be done.”
According to White, the relationship between the UFC and McGregor hasn’t been damaged at all, despite the series of events that transpired this week.
“Our relationship isn’t damaged at all,” White said. “…I’m not even mad a little bit. I had pretty smooth day…. When Conor went out, 10 other people called asking to go in. It’s going to be a massive event. It’s still a big fight. No, I’m not mad at all.”
When asked if he thinks McGregor will ever fight again, as he claimed he was “retiring young” in a tweet posted on Tuesday afternoon, White simply responded, “I do.” He then pointed out the fact that if he wanted to, McGregor could still compete at UFC 200.
“Yeah, if he called me after this interview, we would probably still do it,” White said. “The problem with this whole thing is you have to be here to promote your fight and you have to shoot this commercial. We’re spending $10 million in promotion for UFC 200, and all that money is motion. You can’t do this. I don’t care who you are, or how big you are, you can’t do this.”
https://youtu.be/einOJJuN7uM
According to UFC President Dana White, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor could still compete at the landmark UFC 200 event in July if he wants.
After making the announcement that McGregor had been pulled from the UFC 200 main event, where he was scheduled to fight Nate Diaz in a 170-pound rematch of their first meeting at UFC 196, White made additional media rounds where he elaborated on what went down earlier this week.
“So, Conor basically said that he, he didn’t want to come to Las Vegas,” White told Cowherd. “We had a tour planned. We were going to start in Vegas. We were going to then go to Stockton, and then New York. And then he could go back to, you know, to Iceland, where he is right now.
“And he said, ‘I don’t want to do it. I’m not going to come.’ And I was basically saying, ‘You have to come.’ In the history of us owning the UFC, there’s been one time that a guy hasn’t shown up for his press conference, and it was [Nick] Diaz vs. [longtime UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre] GSP [ahead of UFC 137]. I pulled [Nick] Diaz from the fight. You can’t not show up to promote your fight.”
White continued, explaining that despite the outcome, the talks between the UFC and McGregor’s camp “never turned foul.”
It never got combative, and I was talking to his manager,” White said. “They were asking to move all this stuff to May, and you can’t move this. This stuff is in motion. All fans care about is the fights, and that’s all they should care about. Any fan of the UFC [knows] that this happened once before when I pulled Nick Diaz from the fight.
“Everyone likes to talk about how I coddle Conor, and I baby Conor, and Conor can do whatever he wants and all this stuff. No, no you can’t. We do give Conor a lot of leeway because Conor delivers. He wasn’t planning on delivering this weekend and I had to pull him. That’s what had to be done.”
According to White, the relationship between the UFC and McGregor hasn’t been damaged at all, despite the series of events that transpired this week.
“Our relationship isn’t damaged at all,” White said. “…I’m not even mad a little bit. I had pretty smooth day…. When Conor went out, 10 other people called asking to go in. It’s going to be a massive event. It’s still a big fight. No, I’m not mad at all.”
When asked if he thinks McGregor will ever fight again, as he claimed he was “retiring young” in a tweet posted on Tuesday afternoon, White simply responded, “I do.” He then pointed out the fact that if he wanted to, McGregor could still compete at UFC 200.
“Yeah, if he called me after this interview, we would probably still do it,” White said. “The problem with this whole thing is you have to be here to promote your fight and you have to shoot this commercial. We’re spending $10 million in promotion for UFC 200, and all that money is motion. You can’t do this. I don’t care who you are, or how big you are, you can’t do this.”
