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Conor McGregor Opens Up About UFC 200 Meltdown
Characterizing his very public feud with the UFC as a “publicized civil war,” Conor McGregor, after meeting with UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta last week, opened up in an exclusive interview with ESPN to discuss how the whole meltdown happened, which led to him being pulled from the UFC 200 fight card.
“I was in a time where I was figuring out something. I didn't just shut out and say no to everything,” he explained.
“I just wanted to do reasonable media, and then, hey, all of a sudden, ‘Conor, it's three months from the fight, we've got to drag you (on) 40-hour flights to come and do a runaround, New York, Vegas, California, 70 press conferences, 70 talk shows, adverts, all of this,' and it's like, I already made you $400 million last week.”
McGregor admitted that the tweet about retirement started as half-jest, but when the UFC said it was pulling him off of the UFC 200 fight card, things got much more serious. Serious enough that McGregor felt he had to dig his feet in and stand his ground. The UFC did the same, so the situation never got resolved.
“I'll tell you what, it blew up. I was just kind of having fun at the start,” McGregor continued. “It was kind of half-hearted, and then it just went (through the roof), and then, all of a sudden, you're off UFC 200, and I was like, ‘alright, well (expletive) you too then.' It was fun. Seeing it all blow up like that, it was amusing for a while.”
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While the UFC 200 ship has sailed, McGregor has characterized his recent meeting with White and Fertitta as good. Their meeting with Nate Diaz, who was supposed to be McGregor's UFC 200 opponent, didn't go as well. Whether Diaz comes back to the fold remains to be seen, but McGregor is still hungry and, Floyd Mayweather rumors aside, he fully intends to fight again.
“I feel like my gut has been emptied again. I don’t let anything outside interfere with it. I am very focused on returning, 100 percent.”
(Video courtesy of ESPN | Viewing may be limited by broadcast rights restrictions)
