Dana White just announced on ESPN that Conor McGregor is out of UFC 200. They are actively working on a new main event.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 19, 2016
Today has been one of the weirdest days in MMA history. Conor McGregor, white hot and mega-popular and successful, retired from MMA on Twitter out of the blue. No one can agree if any of it is real, because none of it makes sense.
Twitter has gone back and forth, but this is one step to everything being real — Conor McGregor is out of the UFC 200 main event.
Some are saying this is because he’s retired, others because he didn’t attend a press conference. Speaking with ESPN, Dana White explained that he pulled Conor McGregor from UFC 200 because he was training in Iceland, and didn’t want to film the commercial or do the press conferences.
“Obviously we still have a good relationship with Conor,” White said. “I respect Conor as a fighter and I like him as a person. But you can’t decide not to show up to these things. You have to do it.”
Other shadowy sources have said that Conor rightfully wanted to be a top-paid fighter of all-time and frankly what he’s worth.
Source: Conor McGregor wants approx $10M for #UFC200–more than anyone else in past for single fight. #UFC said no, so he retired.
— Charly Arnolt (@CharlyOnTV) April 19, 2016
So did he retire because he got pulled for not attending the press conference in a moment of bravado, or did he not want to fight for the millions he knows he could/should be making?
Remember, Conor McGregor regularly draws over 1 million PPV buys. At $60 a pop, the cable company takes half, and the UFC essentially gets the other half. As the main event and main promotional draw, he wants what he’s worth, while he’s worth it. He just lost to Nate Diaz, so what would another loss do? A career has diminishing returns in MMA, so perhaps Conor was being a savvy businessman and not retaliating with his ego.
We’ll see how this plays out.
(Via MMA Fighting)
