Conor McGregor is learning what most professional athletes face at some point in their careers: They’re never bigger than the brand. No one in the NFL is bigger than the shi🧸eld. No one in the NBA is bigger than the logo, and no one is bigger in MMA than the UFC.
The first press conference promoting UFC 200 took place Friday in Las 💞Vegas, and McGregor, one of the most 🌠popular fighters in the UFC, was not in attendance and by all accounts won’t be appearing on the milestone mixed-martial arts card set for July 9 at the new T-Mobile Arena.
UFC president Dana White is sticking to his decision to pull McGregor from his scheduled rematch with Nate Diaz for refusing to travel to Las Vegas this weekend to particip📖ate in the various promotional activities associated with the bout.
“You have to show up to promote the fight,” White said during Friday’s press conference, which was attended by all the other fighters on the card. “You have to show up to the press conferences and shoot the commercials. Is it too much to ask to do the promotion for the fight? A lot of these guys came from different parts of the world𒆙 — Brazil and New Jersey — but they’re here. It’s part of the job🎐.”
White said it “sets a bad precedent,” allowing a fighter to dictate terms of his pro🍎motional participation, especially in what is being billed as the biggest pay-per-view event in MMA history.
“It’s just part of the deal,” White said.
So the UFC 200 bandwagon went on without McGregor on Friday and will visit New York on Wednesday, when a press confe🀅rence will takeꦿ place at Madison Square Garden at 2 p.m.
Ultimately, it will be McGregor who misses out. This episode will remind fighters that despite their unique skills, thei🐻r fame, their fortune and the chance to be called champion, no fighter is bigger than the three letters: UFC.
McGregor-Diaz II was set for UFC 200 after Diaz upset McGregor by a second-round submission in a 170-pound fight at UFC 196 on March 5. But the rematch began to unravel when McGregor tweeted April 19: “I have decided to re👍tire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya’s later.”
White countered by announcing McGregor had been pulled off the UFC 200 card after the Irishman made it clear he wanted to focus more on his training in Iceland and do very little promotion for the bout. McGregor confirmed in a statement🅘 on his Facebook page he offered to attend only the New York presser.
He clarified he is “not retired” but is reluctant to interrupt his training after blaming a lack of foc🍌us during training as a reason for his initial loss to Diaz.
“If this is not enough or they feel I have not deserved🅘 to sit this promotion run out this time, well, then I don’t ☂know what to say,” McGregor wrote.
White☂ doesn’t appear willing to show McGregor any special treatment.
Meanwhile, McGregor issued another tw🔯eet Friday, taunting the UFC:
The UFC didn’t budge. It already is rumored Jon “Bones” Jones could face his archrival, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, at UFC 200 should he get past Ovince Saint Preux this Saturday at UFC 197. It is Jones’ first fight in 16 months after a series o🍸f personal and legal issues. Once considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, Jones𒊎 is an example of how fleeting stardom can be. He was suspended by the UFC for six months after he was charged in a hit-and-run incident in Albuquerque, N.M.
Meanwhile, boxing’s middleweight champion, Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) of Kazakhstan, defends his title against Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) of Largo, Md., Saturday on HBO at the Forum in Los Angeles. Also featured, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez꧟ (44-0, 38 KOs) of Nicaragua takes on McWilliams Arroyo (16-2, 13 KOs) of Puerto Rico.