The much ballyhooed UFC 200 press conference in Las Vegas went down on Friday – you know, the one Conor McGregor refused to attend, resulting in him being pulled from his fight with Nate Diaz? Even without Conor there, the event was heavily under the shadow of the absent Irish fighter, with many of the questions focused on him.
.@TheNotoriousMMA wasn't there and still DOMINATED the #UFC200 press conference!https://t.co/DIoWFLRQVx
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) April 22, 2016
UFC president Dana White confirmed repeatedly what had already been leaked to TMZ on Friday: That the fight was off for good and not coming back. As for what will replace it at the top of the card, White said Jon Jones could end up facing Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title if he defeats heavy underdog Ovince Saint Preux on Saturday at UFC 197.
As for Nate Diaz, he may be off the card as well. During the press conference, Diaz gave somewhat contradicting statements, neither of them sounding like he was too interested in anyone other than McGregor.
“I just came to fight Conor McGregor,” he said. “I don’t really have too much interest in anybody else. I don’t have any interest in fighting at all. But if that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to do it.”
Then later: “I said I’m gonna come here to fight, if we get that fight going. If not, I’m going on vacation. For real.”
When asked if it was Conor or bust, he threw out a thumbs up.
As this exchange went down, Conor McGregor updated his Twitter account again to show he was watching the event:
Everyone flew in. Respect.
But not everyone up there made the company 400million in 8 months.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 22, 2016
When asked about the tweet, Nate Diaz shrugged. “Conor got his ass beat,” he replied.