Dana White didn't change his mind at Friday's news conference. Conor McGregor won't be fighting Nate Diaz at UFC 200.
White, UFC's president, had said McGregor's refusal to participate in promotional activities forced him to pull the fast-talking Irishman from the UFC 200 card. It wasn't popular, but White stood by his decision.
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UFC 200 will be a milestone event and showcase for the mixed martial arts organization. It will be staged in Las Vegas as the first major event at the new T-Mobile Arena.
"You think I don't want Conor to fight? Of course I do, but it's not right," White said. "You can't not show up for this stuff, you can't do it. That's a bad precedent, that's not the deal …
"We get criticized a lot for bending too much to Conor, and we do. Conor is a guy who 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."
White is correct in saying "that's a bad precedent," but it's too late because the UFC set that precedent a long time ago.
McGregor is one of the UFC's two transcendent superstars; Ronda Rousey is the other. He's the guy you watch even if you don't care about the UFC, and he knows it. The featherweight champ threw a shot White's way during Friday's news conference after White talked about other fighters taking the time to show up for the event.
Everyone flew in. Respect.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 22, 2016
But not everyone up there made the company 400million in 8 months.
Is $400 million in eight months accurate? Doesn't matter. The fact that McGregor can throw out that kind of number and make you think even for a second it's real shows what he means to the company.
The UFC has given McGregor some of the biggest checks in MMA history. "The Notorious" one became the first fighter to make a disclosed $1 million for his bout at UFC 196. He has routinely treated the UFC as his partner rather than his employer, using words like "we" and "our" with no hesitation.
And why wouldn't he? McGregor has basically done whatever he's wanted inside the Octagon.
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Owning the featherweight title wasn't enough, so McGregor decided to move up to lightweight at UFC 196 to battle Rafael dos Anjos (before he was injured and replaced by Diaz) with the expectation that he would eventually be the champion in that weight class as well.
"I'm coming for that belt, I'm coming for the next belt, I'm coming for the whole company," McGregor said.
The UFC allowed this to happen despite the fact that it's extremely rare for champions to change weight classes, and no UFC fighter had held multiple championship belts.
After Diaz choked out McGregor at UFC 196, the UFC doubled down by setting up a welterweight rematch at UFC 200. Don't worry about fighting Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo at featherweight for the title you are still holding, it essentially told McGregor. Let's focus on what else you can grab.
Now, with McGregor off the UFC 200 card, White must search for a replacement to take on Diaz — except Diaz said if he doesn't brawl with McGregor he's "going on vacation."
Those McGregor dominoes continue to fall.
Instead of promoting the rematch as "Rocky McGregor" getting beat by "Clubber Diaz," heading back to the old gym and training harder to win, White decided to tell one of the faces of the UFC he simply can't do whatever he wants.
You know, the guy who got all the money, the matches he wanted, the cover of EA Sports' "UFC 2." Yeah, he told that guy he can't do whatever he wants.
Can you blame McGregor for not believing him?
