Conor McGregor pulled from UFC 200 fight against Nate Diaz
Conor McGregor is officially out of UFC 200, pulled from the main event against Nate Diaz after the featherweight champion refused to attend a press conference to promote the event in Las Vegas.
UFC president Dana White made the announcement via "SportsCenter" on Tuesday.
According to White, the UFC had plans to begin ramping up promotion for the historic UFC 200 card on July 9 in Las Vegas and McGregor was expected to attend.
McGregor, however, is currently in Iceland training for the Diaz rematch and apparently told UFC officials he wasn't willing to make the trip to meet the press.
So the decision was made to pull him from the event.
McGregor also tweeted his retirement.
"I respect Conor but it doesn’t make you exempt for showing up for the press conferences and all the promotional stuff that we have to do. We spend a lot of money with this stuff, and you have to do it, man," White said.
"Obviously we still have a good relationship with Conor. 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."
This isn't the first time the UFC has pulled a fighter for failing to live up to a promotion commitment.
When Nick Diaz failed to show up for a press conference to promote his fight against Georges St-Pierre in 2011, the UFC pulled him from the bout.
Now it appears the same fate has befallen McGregor, who has been pulled from the main event at UFC 200.
White said that Diaz is scheduled to fly into Las Vegas this week to meet with UFC officials where they will discuss a new opponent for him to face on the card.
White couldn't speculate whether or not McGregor was serious about his retirement and said he would leave that decision up to the current featherweight champion.
Another marquee fight is expected to be added to UFC 200 now that McGregor has been pulled from the event and Diaz will now face a replacement opponent.
