Conor McGregor is still willing to fight at UFC 200
Remember long long ago, when UFC 200 was supposed to be headlined by Conor McGregor facing Nate Diaz in a rematch from their first bout earlier this year? The fight was scrapped after the featherweight champion refused to engage in some promotion duties ahead of the show.
Now several weeks later, McGregor and Diaz appeared together at a pre-fight press conference just days ahead of UFC 200, and right after Jon Jones was yanked from the main event following a doping violation from an out-of-competition drug test.
McGregor didn't revel in the situation, or take jabs at Jones in what has to be a very low point for his career.
"I could sit up here and say, 'Well, well, well,' but I am a successful human being and successful human beings do not celebrate in the adversity or the misfortune of others," McGregor said. "I wish Jon well, I wish everyone backstage well — I know they're running around like headless chickens trying to get everything together. But all I missed was a press conference. If I look at the facts, the main event of the fight and the co-main event of the fight weren't even at that press conference. So it is what it is."
The Irishman did predict, however, that his upcoming bout with Diaz at UFC 202 on Aug. 20 will bring the real numbers that will move the promotion's bottom line.
"Aug. 20 is my date -- UFC 202 — the real 200," McGregor continued. "And I will have my redemption."
Considering the way everything has unfolded over the past 24 hours — with Jones being pulled from the card and Brock Lesnar - Mark Hunt being promoted to the new main event — McGregor would have been a nice option to have to headline the show.
And McGregor said he's more than willing to help out with UFC 200 if they still want a showstopper on Saturday night.
UFC 200 will still certainly do some sizable numbers this weekend, but the card now headlined with McGregor versus Diaz is expected to be one of the biggest shows of the year.
McGregor's last fight with Diaz was ranked as one of the top pay-per-views of all time, and the Irishman plans on hanging onto that spot, no matter what happens Saturday night.
"I'm happy with my No. 1 spot currently," McGregor said. "It's the No. 1 pay-per-view in the company's history. People think UFC 200 did more pay-per-view buys, but it didn't. Know that.
"So I feel this will do well even though Jon Jones and Cormier was off. Their last contest did 750,000 buys, it was a five-rounder, it wasn't the best contest I didn't feel. It was OK. I don't think that was the attraction. I think bringing Brock (Lesnar) back is the attraction to the card. So I think it will do OK numbers, but it still won't take UFC 196 off the top spot and it certainly won't take (UFC) 202 off the top spot, no way."
