He promised a statement, and he delivered.
Conor McGregor drew the focus of the world's sporting media upon him when he took to Facebook to explain the tweet, and the decision, that had the MMA world whipped into a frenzy.
It was lengthy, and while some of his comments must be respected, there were also a few points that simply didn't add up. We've taken an in-depth look at what was said in an attempt to better understand his words, and to attempt to determine what happens next.
We'll start with the first thing that caught the eye.
I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting.
That is an admission that nobody expected from Conor.
In saying that he is essentially trying to wipe the slate clean and start over. Rather than look back at what he had said publicly before, it's worth looking at how it reached tipping point for McGregor regarding his promotional activity.
-His KO of Marcus Brimmage and convincing win despite sustaining a bad injury against Max Holloway gave him the platform to bring the UFC back to Dublin.
-At UFC Dublin his demolition of Diego Brandao coupled with a frankly outrageous night of success for Irish MMA resulted in the boom in popularity that saw the mainstream media start the obsession with Conor. At this point, his media obligations were modest in comparison to what would follow in terms of worldwide coverage.
-Dustin Poirier was up next in the first of many fights that were supposed to be the first real test for Conor. While the press demands for this fight were not out of the ordinary, the Dubliner played it so well that it was impossible for the media to ignore. He beat Poirier before he set foot in the Octagon, and by predicting the method of victory and the round correctly, he made the UFC marketing team's eyes light up. Here he was. The gamechanger.
-The Dennis Siver fight was the first time we really, truly saw McGregor pushed hard in terms of his promo work. UFC Fight Night Boston was something the UFC used to raise McGregor's profile in the US, and it worked. The press conferences and UFC embedded episodes could actually have been done without Dennis Siver such was the extent of attention McGregor received, and by winning in spectacular fashion, an international mega-star was born.
-The turning point for all of this was the UFC 189 World Tour with Jose Aldo. Months in advance, the two fighters had to travel the world, engaging in verbal warfare everywhere they landed over a two week period. This set the precedent for Conor, but he looked as though he was relishing it. His brand was growing to unprecedented heights, his opponents couldn't keep up with him and were thus distracted from their own preparations. It looked like a mentally draining, physically taxing event for Aldo, but it looked it made Conor grow stronger.
-When Chad Mendes was brought in to replace the injured Jose Aldo, many thought that McGregor would not have the time to pull Mendes into an emotional involvement, but he did. Again, the media obligations at this point seemed to have very little effect on McGregor.
-Next up, UFC 194 and the continuation of the media insanity that started back with the World Tour. The fact that Jose Aldo was so wound up by McGregor that he ran face first into his devastating left-straight says it all. Once again the media obligations had ensured that Conor got fully and firmly under the skin of his opponent, so no signs that the media was too much here at all.
-Nate Diaz accepting the fight at UFC 196 threw up a curveball that McGregor did not see coming. While he was poking fun at Daiz's soft belly and claiming that his opponent didn't have a chance due to his lack of preparation, instead Conor himself was neglecting his preparation in order to save the main event of UFC 196. His media obligations were ramped up as the Diaz fight had to be sold, and sure enough, McGregor managed to do it on his own, with Nate only really offering "I don't give a fuck, motherfucker" by way of a response.
So now that UFC 200 was on the horizon, McGregor has realised that he did himself no favours by doing everything that was asked him. I feel that on another card, no UFC 200, Dana would have come out in defence of McGregor and claimed that he deserves to have one fight "off" as it were in terms of media obligations, but this is not just any old event. UFC 200 has been built up to be the mother of all UFC events, they badly want Conor for this but if he can't do the promos, in the eyes of Dana White and the shot callers in this matter, he can't fight on the card.
While it is understandable that Conor has changed how he sees the preparations for a fight, you can't really ride the wave and then get off at the very peak, before the very thing you had worked towards, in the eyes of the UFC. Dana wanted Conor on the UFC 200 card no matter who he fought, that's why he was allowed the immediate Diaz rematch, but that was the total McGregor package including press tours and adverts that he wanted to sell the event.
50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photo shoots, and at the end of it all I'm left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation. And the many distractions that led to this.
Nothing else was going through my mind.
Again, an admission from McGregor that nobody would have expected. He has essentially admitted that he was doubting himself before the fight with Diaz, something nobody thought McGregor would have done.
For someone who gave the impression that the idea of losing had literally not entered his head during his winning streak in the UFC, to hear that he had nothing other than doubt running through his mind ahead of UFC 196 is an eye-opener.
It also makes it very difficult for McGregor to resume the persona he had created at a later date, as having been someone who insisted he could not be beaten, and had never given thought to losing, that is now out the window as any fighter he suggests that to can point back to the time when too much media work made him constantly think about losing to Nate, before he went out and lost to Nate.
Could Conor's press conferences be changed forever going forward as a result of this admission?
I flew an entire team to Portugal and to Iceland to make my adjustments in preparation and fix my errors I made with the weight and the cardio prep.
This is by far the most promising point for fans of Conor McGregor in the statement. In saying this, he is acknowledging that he made mistakes and was actively working to fix them, something which many feared he was not going to do while insisting on an immediate rematch with Nate.
This tells us that he knows he was in over his head last time out and that he won't let it happen again. That's great... But he probably should have said that to Dana a long time ago.
There had been 10 million dollars allocated for the promotion of this event is what they told me.
So as a gesture of good will, I went and not only saved that 10 million dollars in promotion money, I then went and tripled it for them.
And all with one tweet.
This part is undeniable, and has shown the UFC just how big a draw Conor is to their organisation.
To give in now and allow him to fight at UFC 200 without the same press obligations as others would set a bad precedent for other fighters, but the fact that there many not be as much interest in UFC 200 if Conor is withdrawn says a lot about the UFC at this moment in time and how dependant they are on him to bring in the casual fans.
Dana was all-in on McGregor being enough of a headline for UFC 200 to be the biggest event in the history of MMA. Now that he's not going to be fighting, while MMA fans can still enjoy an outrageous card in terms of entertainment, the casual fans will almost certainly lose interest.
He came in with no shit to do that last one. I'd already done press conferences, interviews and shot the ads before RDA pulled out.
Maybe I'll hit Cabo this time and skull some shots pre-fight with no obligation.
This part is one that can't really be taken seriously.
To suggest that Nate Diaz had an advantage because he didn't have to do the prep work by taking the fight on short notice just doesn't add up. He also wasn't training, so if Conor couldn't train properly because the media duties, then Nate wasn't training at all because he didn't know he was fighting.
It seems like an excuse, and not a particularly convincing one, as he is claiming that if he gets a more laid-back media schedule this time around then he will win.
Nate Diaz also had to battle food poisoning in the run up to that fight, so let's not forget that he had a daunting task in front of him which he made look like something he had been preparing years for.
I am still ready to go for UFC 200.
I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training. With no distractions.
The ball has been bounced into the court of the UFC. He wants to fight, it's up to Dana now.
The only problem is that were White to award McGregor what he wants, a reduced media schedule for UFC 200, then he is setting a dangerous precedent for the future. Where McGregor had been an example for other UFC champions and contenders to follow, take Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman as an example, that has now flipped on its head and fighters can argue that if Conor doesn't have to skip training for a phone-in, then why should they?
Dana White has a big call to make. If he sticks to his guns and UFC 200 goes ahead without McGregor, there is no doubt that casual interest (the really big bucks for the UFC) will drop. If he caves to McGregor's requests, then he has proven that he really does get what he wants, even when it's not in the best interests of the organisation.
Dana will likely address the media in the coming days, but until then we can only speculate.
