Friday 22 April 2016 08:54, UK
Conor McGregor has insisted that he "has not retired" and still wants to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 200.
The UFC featherweight champion tweeted on Tuesday that he planned to "retire young" and was promptly pulled out of his July rematch against Diaz - but has now revealed that his message was a promotional tool to save him from American media obligations.
Full statement is below:
I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting.
"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. Fifty world tours, 200 press conferences, one million interviews, two 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 Connecticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Susie did not get me this life.
"Talking to some lady that deep down doesn't [care] about what I'm doing, but just wants some sound bites so she can maybe get herself 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 goodwill, 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 am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time. I cannot dance for you this time. It is time for the other monkeys to dance.
"I must isolate myself now. I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time. I cannot dance for you this time. It is time for the other monkeys to dance. I've danced us all the way here.
I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time. I cannot dance for you this time. It is time for the other monkeys to dance.
"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 [nothing] to do that last one. I'd already done press conferences, interviews and shot the ads before [Rafael dos Anjos] pulled out.
"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 $400m I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside eight 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."
As it stands, McGregor remains withdrawn from the UFC 200 main-event against Diaz.
