His mind is not for changing.
Dana White has confirmed that Conor McGregor’s failure to take part in a press conference ahead of UFC 200 means he will not be fighting Nate Diaz in Las Vegas on 9 July.
Earlier in the week, McGregor backtracked on his ‘retirement’ and insisted he was training in Iceland to face Diaz once again, having been beaten by the American in March.
However, White is not backing down and says he is now looking at Jon Jones v Daniel Cormier II as a possible new main event.
“It’s an unpopular decision but it’s the right decision,” White insisted.
“It’s just part of the deal. The fighters … they want Conor to fight on the card too. People want Conor to fight, the fans, the media. You think I don’t want Conor to fight? Of course I do, but it’s not right. You can’t not show up for this stuff, you can’t do it.
“That’s a bad precendent, that’s not the deal.
“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.
“We’re spending 10 million on promotion for this fight and we can’t even shoot a commercial for the main event?”
White was then asked is McGregor was 100% off the card.
“Yes. Holy shit,” came the response.
Diaz, meanwhile, explained his plans now that he’s not fighting McGregor. He’s going on holiday.
“I came to fight Conor McGregor and I don’t really have too much interest in anyone else,” he 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.
“If we don’t get that fight on, I’m going on vacation – for real.”
