UFC PRESIDENT DANA White has left the door open for Conor McGregor to fight at UFC 200 but says time is ticking for him to clarify if he has retired or not.
Speaking to Colin Cowherd on Wednesday’s edition of The Herd on Fox Sports, White insisted the row between the organisation and one of its biggest stars has nothing to do with money.
McGregor was last night pulled from his upcoming rematch against Nate Diaz after he refused to participate in any promotional activities for the event in Las Vegas.
“Conor had basically said that he didn’t want to come to Las Vegas and we had a tour planned, we were going to start in Vegas and we were then going to Stockton and then New York and then he could go back to Iceland where he is right now,” White explained.
“He said ‘I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to come’ and I was basically saying ‘you have to come’ and in the history of the UFC there’s been one guy who hasn’t turned up to his press conference and it was Nick Diaz versus George St-Pierre and I pulled Nick Diaz from the fight.
“You can’t not turn up to promote your fight, you can’t not do it.”
The Dubliner sparked furious speculation about his future with a tweet suggesting he was ready to quit the sport on Tuesday evening.
White insisted the pair’s relationship hasn’t been damaged by the developments of the last 24 hours but revealed Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar will fight for the vacant featherweight title if McGregor isn’t part of the card.
“Conor needs to clear up this whole retirement thing and clear it up fast because if he has retired then at UFC 200, Jose Also and Frankie Edgar will be fighting for the vacant title then,” White continued.
“Swear to god I’m not mad, not even a little bit. I had a pretty smooth day yesterday, it’s UFC 200, it’s a huge fight, I have 600 people on the roster who all want to fight on this card.
“Believe me, when Conor pulled out, 10 other people called me asking to go in.
“I don’t know [what will happen], we’ll see how this thing plays out but I’m not mad at Conor. Obviously Conor made a decision and a choice to not fight on this card and that’s how he gets paid so that’s on him, man, not on me. The show will roll on.
“If he called me after this interview, we could still do it.”
Watch the full interview below.
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