Conor McGregor Is Still Willing To Fight At UFC 200 In Two Days
Conor McGregor was originally supposed to headline this Saturday’s UFC 200 card, and at Thursday’s UFC 202 press conference, he said that he’d still be willing to be part of the event with just two days notice.
The original main event for UFC 200 was the Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rematch, but due to the fact that McGregor didn’t want to attend one of the show’s pre-fight press conferences, the UFC made the decision to pull him from the show. Their original plan was to find someone else for Nate Diaz to fight, but Diaz made it clear that he only wanted to fight McGregor.
As of right now, the main event of UFC 200 is Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt, and UFC president Dana White is working on finding a new opponent for Daniel Cormier after Jon Jones was pulled from the show due to a potential USADA violation. White has guaranteed that DC will fight on the show, but he didn’t say if he’ll be put back in the show’s main event spot.
If the Cormier fight doesn’t end up being the main-event of the show, and if the UFC feels that the Lesnar vs. Hunt fight isn’t a strong enough fight to be the show-closing bout, then Conor McGregor is ready, willing, and able to step in and face whoever the UFC wants to put in front of him on Saturday night.
“I’m here and I’m in shape. All they gotta do is ask.”
The last time McGregor accepted a short-notice fight was at UFC 196 back in March, when he faced Nate Diaz at 170 pounds. Things didn’t go McGregor’s way that night, but that’s obviously not stopping him from being willing to accept yet another short notice fight, regardless of the opponent.
Adding McGregor to UFC 200 would give the show a much-needed boost, because losing the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier fight will almost certainly hurt the show. It’ll obviously still do big business because Brock Lesnar will be on the card, but a card with both Lesnar and McGregor has the chance to break the UFC’s all-time pay-per-view buys record.
It seems unlikely that the UFC would add McGregor to UFC 200, especially since Dana White has already guaranteed that Daniel Cormier will be fighting on the show. But, if they are considering it, then they may end up putting him the Octagon with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who has also volunteered to fight on the show.
Hey I'm already in town https://t.co/VEVOyvq16P
— Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) July 7, 2016
Cerrone has wanted a fight with Conor McGregor for quite a while now, and a bout between the two, even on short notice, would help any show do big business. The “Cowboy” has also volunteered to move up to 205 pounds and fight Daniel Cormier, but that’s clearly not going to happen because then it’d be a welterweight vs. a light heavyweight, and the UFC probably isn’t looking to do that.
Conor McGregor doesn’t think that UFC 200 will break the UFC’s all-time pay-per-view buys record, which he claims is held by him.
“I’m happy with my No. 1 spot currently. It’s the No. 1 pay-per-view in the company’s history. People think UFC 100 done more pay-per-view buys, but it didn’t.”
“I think [UFC 200] will do OK numbers, but it won’t take UFC 196 for the top spot and it certainly won’t take 202 off the top spot, no way.”
If you’re itching to see McGregor fight, then you’ll probably have to wait until next month’s UFC 202 show because it’s highly unlikely that the UFC will add him to this Saturday night’s show, mostly because it would put his fight with Nate Diaz, which they worked extremely hard to make, in jeopardy. So, don’t expect to see McGregor added to UFC 200.
[Image via John Locher / AP Images]
