Conor McGregor told to forget about UFC 200 fight
By Andy Charles
Last Updated: 23/04/16 1:06pm
UFC president Dana White has told Conor McGregor to forget about fighting at UFC 200 in July.
McGregor had been due to fight Nate Diaz in a rematch in Las Vegas this summer, the man he lost his unbeaten UFC record to, but briefly announced his retirement from the octagon earlier this week.
He retracted his retirement on Thursday, saying his earlier announcement had been provoked by the amount of promotional work he had been forced to do for previous fights.
But White said that was part and parcel of UFC and ruled out the chance of Diaz taking on McGregor for a second time at a press conference in Las Vegas, one the Irishman failed to show for.
"Anybody who has fought for the UFC over the last 16 years knows that we try to give as much leeway as we can on things," White said.
"But you have to show up to promote the fight. You have to show up to press conferences and shoot the commercials. It's part of the job. It's what we do here.
"We gave Conor every opportunity in the world to get here. We get criticised a lot for bending too much to Conor - and we do. Conor is a guy that has stepped up and fought in big fights on short notice. I respect Conor very much as a fighter and I like him, but you have to show up and do this stuff."
Diaz was in attendance at the press conference, along with a number of other fighters, and dropped a large hint that he would not fight at UFC 200 if his Irish rival was frozen out of proceedings.
"I came to fight Conor McGregor and I don't really have too much interest in anyone else," Diaz said. "I don't have any interest in fighting at all. If that's what we were going to do, I thought we were going to do it.
"I didn't ask for that fight, he asked for that fight. If we don't do that fight, I'm going on vacation."
