In a UFC 202 press conference that started both forty five minutes late and was plagued with sound issues, Conor McGregor still managed to get some points across…Even if Nate Diaz didn’t play along.
The two were originally scheduled to face each other at UFC 200, before a disagreement over media obligations between the company and McGregor meant their headlining the card was scrapped, and instead that honour was given to Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
With news breaking last night that Jon Jones had failed a drug test, there was an odd sense of irony to the fact that Diaz and McGregor still came to town. Something McGregor found time to note.
“I could sit up here and say well, well, well,” McGregor said. “But I am a successful human being and successful human beings do not celebrate in the adversity and misfortune of others.
“All I missed was a press conference. If I look at the main event of the fight and the co-main of the fight weren’t even at that press conference. It is what it is.”
Diaz, who made constant reference to the fact he couldn’t hear questions being asked of him, was much more simple in his response.
“Everybody’s on steroids,” he said with a smile.
The rematch between the two is instead set to be held at UFC 202 in August, and will be taking place in the welterweight division. Two divisions up from McGregor’s usual featherweight, and one up from Diaz’s usual lightweight.
For McGregor, it’s still important.
“What kind of fighter would I be if I lost a contest at a specific weight against a specific individual and then I said well you got me this time, cut a load of weight and I’ll get you at that weight,” McGregor said. “So it makes sense for me to have the contest at 170, to right the wrong. To leave no questions. This is the one, this is where I put everything to rest.
“The last contest was a great fight, I have my reasons why I feel the fight went the way it went, and now I have the opportunity to prove what I’m saying, like I’ve proved many times before, that what I say is correct.”
With McGregor taking back-to-back fights at a heavier weight, there has been noted discontent amongst his fellow featherweights, with several speculating his days in the division are over. It’s a suggestion McGregor scoffs at.
“I giggle, I giggle when they try and take that credit from me,” McGregor said. “For going up this weight and fighting at 170lbs and they try and say that ‘it’s just a fight where i’m not cutting weight’ and all this bullshit. Make no mistake, I am the undisputed 145lb UFC champion, and that is my division, a division I have destroyed.
“Make no mistake that 145lb division is my division, I am the world champion at that weight and i will continue to dominate that division. I have other business that has presented itself that I must handle first, but make no mistake. 145. 155. These are all my divisions and I will come back to dominate them.”
Diaz hadn’t much opinion on the upcoming bout, and instead gained attention after he chose to tweet his thoughts on the T-Mobile arena.
This arenas got shitty sound system 💯
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) July 7, 2016
In regards to the falling out with the UFC brass earlier this year, McGregor acknowledged that if he could, it would have been handled differently. Preferring face to face meetings instead of talking through representatives, McGregor said it could have perhaps gone differently if the two sides were in better communication from the outset. Not that he feels he’s in the wrong.
“I’ve done an awful lot for the company,” McGregor said. “I feel I carried 2015 on my back. I feel like the reason there’s a $4.2 billion price tag on the company is because of me. I believe that’s what the Chinese estimate my net worth.”
UFC 202 takes place on August 20, at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday July 15.
