And the fight is about 2.5 months away. Do they really need him there to hype the fight right now? Could they have worked with him since he didn't really want to fight there? Yes but danas ego stood firm, lol [Reply]
Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO:
And the fight is about 2.5 months away. Do they really need him there to hype the fight right now? Could they have worked with him since he didn't really want to fight there? Yes but danas ego stood firm, lol
Its not just Conor and Diaz, they had arranged for every single fighter on that card to be in Vegas to do media and commercials. Thats not a small amount of money, and honestly, its not a lot to ask either. All they want is these few days, everyone else on the main card is flying in, if Conor wants special treatment, then I can see how it makes sense to push back and insist that no one is above the pre-fight press conference, doesn't matter who you are, everyone has to do it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by New World Order:
It's probably a money dispute.
I highly doubt the reason for puling him off the card is because he didn't want to show up for a press conference.
Remember all of the Aldo/Mcgregor conferences? And those were all over the world.
A lot of people have speculated that he was severely traumatized by watching his teammate kill a man less than two weeks ago, his heart is now no longer into fighting, and he's just using this as a convenient excuse. [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
A lot of people have speculated that he was severely traumatized by watching his teammate kill a man less than two weeks ago, his heart is now no longer into fighting, and he's just using this as a convenient excuse.
I don't know....it would look a whole lot more sane and classy to come out and tell the truth if that were the case. [Reply]
Dana White will be on FS1 at the top of the hour. I'll summarize whatever he says
edit: This wasn't just going to be a press conference, the UFC had planned a 3-city tour: Vegas, Stockton, New York, then Conor could go back to Iceland.
Dana does not believe he will retire. However, if he is not retiring, then Conor "needs to clear that up fast", because if he still says he's retired close to 200, then they will vacate the title.
edit2: They are spending $10MM to promote UFC 200. "I don't care who you are, you can't do this to us". [Reply]
Originally Posted by TimBone:
Really ****ing petty. I don't like Vegas either, but if someone is gonna pay me a few million to go there, it would be my new favorite city.
Meh. That was a retarded rematch anyway. Holding up the Featherweight belt for a rematch of an exhibition fight. What? [Reply]
Dana is adamant that this wasn't about money, it was only about promotion. He was confused about why "Conor freaked out", and that it was "weird", especially since the fight is 3 months away, not 6 weeks away.
Conor's team asked if they could delay all the promotion until May, but they already arranged for every fighter to come to Vegas during 197, and had plans for expensive commercials and the tour, so Dana basically told Conor absolutely not, you come to Vegas or you are off the card.
He also made the point that all the greats promote their fights: Muhammad Ali promoted his fight, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson, all of them promoted their fights, its mandatory. [Reply]