UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor started a firestorm earlier this week with a tweet suggesting he'd be retiring early.
On Thursday, he backtracked, while also explaining via Facebook why didn't want to leave his training camp in Iceland for his UFC 200 fight with Nate Diaz. It would require McGregor to come to the United States for promotional work building up the rematch.
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Here is what he said Thursday ... and here is how to interpert it all:
McGregor: "I am paid to fight. I anot yet paid to promote."
While true, part of McGregor's contract is that he gets a percentage of the back end of pay-per-view revenue. If he doesn't promote the fight, he doesn't earn the extra money a show he headlines would normally bring in. McGregor made more than $10 million for his fight against Diaz at UFC 196 and around $5 million for his UFC 194 fight with Jose Aldo. We all know the featherweight champion likes money by the expensive cars and clothes he flaunts at every turn.
Yes, McGregor did the world tour for the Aldo fight, which was originally supposed to take place at UFC 189. In the buildup to UFC 194, McGregor did virtually no media except for a press conference in September. For the buildup to UFC 196, he did one press conference when the opponent was originally Rafael Dos Anjos. Then when Diaz replaced Dos Anjos, an immediate press conference was done in California.
While McGregor has done a lot of media, the UFC wasn't asking too much of him. Go to Las Vegas, do a press conference, shoot some commercials, head to Stockton, Ca. and New York for another press conference and then head back to Iceland and train for another eight weeks before UFC 200.
McGregor: "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."
It takes a lot for someone of McGregor's caliber to admit he was lacking preparation. He claims it was due to doing too much promotional work and not focusing on the opponent. He only had 10 days to prepare for Diaz at a weight which he'd never fought and wants to have the extra time to prepare for the former UFC lightweight title challenger.
McGregor: "It is time to be selfish with my training again. It is the only way. I feel the $400 million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway."
Fighters never release how much money they have made for the company. Is the $400 million true? Who knows as the UFC doesn't release its financial numbers do to them being a private company. Does McGregor have a point? He has made the company a lot of money but should that give him a hall pass in this instance?
McGregor: "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."
So that clears it all up, right?
McGregor still wants to fight on this show. He is willing to fly to New York next Wednesday. He makes a point of informing the UFC and USADA that he isn't retiring. It shows what everyone thought when he said was retiring on Thursday. He really wasn't going to leave the sport which took him from the outhouse and collecting welfare checks to the penthouse in less than three years of being in the UFC. No athlete at his peak would make a decision like that when he continues to profess his love for competing.
McGregor does make valid points and the UFC has valid points. The question is what happens now?
Does the UFC put McGregor vs. Diaz back on UFC 200 and allow McGregor to only do next week's press conference? It would set a bad precedent if they allow that. Every fighter should be treated the same, regardless of how much money he or she makes for the company. The UFC has let McGregor get away with coming to press conferences and media workouts 45 minutes to one hour late with no repercussions.
No one is bigger than the company. The UFC went from the era of Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture to Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre to now McGregor, Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones. More fighters will come through the line.
McGregor believes he has done a lot for the UFC and he definitely has. He has taken fights on short notice when fighters of his stature wouldn't do it and has done everything the UFC has asked of him. The SBG fighter has made the UFC millions of dollars, set disclosed financial records and along with Rousey, helped the UFC once again get into the mainstream. His tweet on Tuesday eclipsed 165,000 retweets on Twitter which shattered the 130,000 RT's when Kobe Bryant announced this would be his last NBA season.
This is going to be interesting ride in the next few days. Who will buckle? Grab your soda and popcorn, take a seat and enjoy the show.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, Fight Club Chicago, and subscribe on iTunes, Soundcloud and Stitcher. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor released a Facebook statement Thursday explaining a tweet from earlier in the week about why he didn't want to leave his training camp in Iceland for his UFC 200 fight with Nate Diaz. It would require McGregor to come to the United States for promotional work building up the rematch. He also stated at the end of the statement that he isn't retired and wants to fight at UFC 200.
