Another tweet to make everyone sit up and take notice and probably another couple of hundred thousand twitter followers. If you're looking for positives, Conor McGregor has once again proven that he knows how to market himself to the masses. If you're looking at the negative side of things, 'the whiff of WWE' is now approaching what it must be like to live beside a public dump in the middle of summer.
Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200!
Shout out to @danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting this one done for the fans. #Respect— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 25, 2016
Regardless of which side of that argument you fall down on, the one undeniable truth is that, for all his bluster, Conor McGregor can't control what the UFC will do. He may think otherwise (although we sincerely doubt it) but the organisation is bigger than the individual and after they were given the opportunity to sleep on it, they have backed up that argument.
Despite what he was claiming this morning, Conor McGregor is not going to be present and accounted for at UFC 200 according to Dana White. That is of course, barring another shift in the state of play but for all the world it looks like McGregor may have made a mistake in trying to force the UFC's hand with his 'announcement' this morning.
There had been suggestions all morning that McGregor was pulling our leg for want of a better phrase and Dana White has confirmed that line of thinking in a text message to the LA Times. According to them White was asked about McGregor's tweet and he responded 'Not true. We haven’t talked [to] Conor or his manager since the press conference. I don’t know why he would tweet that.'
TMZ are also reporting that White expanded upon that quote.
All the media keeps asking me that. I feel like the scene in 'Step Brothers' when they ask if they can build the bunk beds. I don't know how many more times I can say the fight is off or how many more press conferences I can have saying the fight is off for people to believe it's off.
So there you have, UFC 200 is still a McGregor free zone but there's no doubt that this is not the last we've heard of it.
