Everyone seems to have an opinion on Conor McGregor.
Last week. McGregor blew up the MMA world by announcing his retirement from the sport. As things progressed, it became apparent that McGregor had not actually retired but that this was a part of a power struggle between UFC management and the Irish superstar. Since then the entire MMA community has been held hostage by the McGregor-UFC battle and the question of whether or not he will actually fight at UFC 200 where he was scheduled to rematch Nate Diaz.
For the most part, the people watching this story unfold are not directly impacted by the decisions of the UFC and McGregor but not so for Miesha Tate. Tate is scheduled to make her first title defense of her women's bantamweight championship against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 and the will he, won't he of the McGregor situation tangibly effects her now and in the future. In an interview with ESPN, the champion gave her opinion on the matter and on how the UFC handles promotion.
"I understand that he has an obsession with beating Nate right now and he wants to stay focused and stay the course at all costs. I get it. But at the end of the day. it says in your contract when you sign that you have to do reasonable promotion. This is reasonable promotion. I have never had the UFC ask me to do unreasonable promotion. And they're very accommodating. Whether it's a car service to take you to where you need to train while you're travelling. Whatever they can do to make your life easier, bringing breakfast to you, bringing lunch to you, whatever you need they're really accommodating. They try to make this as easy [as possible]."
Ultimately, McGregor refused to show up and do a press tour promoting the event and his refusal resulted in the UFC removing McGregor from the card all together, a decision which Dana White reaffirmed as recently as Monday. McGregor's absence means the UFC either has to find a suitable replacement or lean more heavily on the drawing power of the other main card fighters already there. While certainly not a draw on the level of McGregor, Tate is one of the bigger stars in the UFC and she believes these events are extremely important for the event and that this media was a relatively small obligation. Moreover, she says, McGregor's refusal to show up meant she had to adjust her schedule to work around his absence.
"And we're three months out from the fight you know. It's not unreasonable to ask to come in here for a day and give some promotion. This does huge things for the fight. They filmed the commercial the other day. and we actually ended up having to pick up the pieces of Conor not being there. We had to film more. I had to actually come back and push my training schedule to the side and scoot my stuff around to be able to accommodate the fact that Conor wasn't there and fill up those voids."
For his part, McGregor has maintained that he has generated such substantial value and media presence to the company that he should not be required to fulfill all his media obligations, a point that may have merit considering the amount of widespread and mainstream media attention this saga has generated. McGregor's initial retirement tweet is the most retweeted post for any athlete so far in 2016 and media outlets across the world have been picking up the story. Still though, Dana White has made it abundantly clear that McGregor will not be fighting at UFC 200 despite the likelihood that McGregor's absence will cost the UFC several million dollars in sales.
Considering the fact that McGregor successfully getting the UFC to back down would set a precedent for other fighters to follow and leverage to their own benefits, one would think that his fellow fighters would be more supportive of McGregor's stance. For the most part though that hasn't been the case and though Tate did say she could sympathize with McGregor, she ultimately sided with the UFC.
"It is what it is but I think that Conor should be here definitely."
Tate defends her UFC women's bantamweight championship against Nunes at UFC 200 on July 9th in Las Vegas, Nev.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Standing firm. Dana White says that despite Conor McGregor's tweet, he will not be fighting at UFC 200 but could fight later this summer.
Farewell Hooligan. Paddy Holohan announced his retirement from MMA competition due to a rare blood disorder.
Optimism. Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh thinks there is a 51% chance McGregor fights at UFC 200.
Scumbag. Dominick Cruz says Urijah Faber accusing TJ Dillashaw is a 'scumbag move.'
Did it for the fans. UFC salaries were released for 197 and Jon Jones led all fighters with a disclosed $500,000.
EXTRA CREDIT READING
Quid pro quo. Karim Zidan of BloodyElbow.com examines the trend of Russian politicians lavishing expensive gifts upon MMA fighters.
Check the technique. Patrick Wyman of BleacherReport provides a technical breakdown of the main card fighters from this past weekend.
MEDIA STEW
I sincerely hope Ronda gets new coaching and returns. She is incredible for the sport and just fun to have around.
Andrei Arlovski putting hands on Ian Freeman because why not?
This. This is why the UFC wants McGregor. Look at these two sad men. They can beat up practically anyone on the planet and combined they have the swagger and charisma of a soggy cracker. Conor should do promotion. These two should not.
"Ninjaest" is my new favorite word.
If you wanted a closer look into the day to day life of Cowboy Cerrone.
This is from a year ago, right after Pettis lost to RDA. At the two-minute mark Khabib talks about Pettis being done and that a lot of people can beat him now. Just call him Mystic Man Who Wrestles Bears.
LONG WATCHES
TWEETS
And here it all went again.
Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200!
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 25, 2016
Shout out to @danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting this one done for the fans. #Respect
Of all the parties who have said things in this cluster, Nate Diaz is by far the most reliable to be spitting truth.
Happy to announce that I'm going on vacation #gone #100 ✌ ️
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) April 26, 2016
Stockton walls got slapped up with some Nate Diaz art and he found out. I'm not surprised.
It really is unfortunate what happened to Paddy Holohan. Wishing him all the best.
Somehow I doubt Dana White will be against doing more press.
If we main event @ufc 200. We do press tour. One of the stops needs to be New Orleans. I want my state to be apart of this. #my1demand
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) April 25, 2016
Just what Jon Jones needed, more reason to want to hit DC.
"If this is the new Jon Jones, there's no way that guy can beat me" ~DC
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 26, 2016
Doing interviews together is all well and good but you could at least get them separate rooms. Or a bigger couch to sit on.
Jon Jones back at it being a terror behind the wheel.
Valerie Letourneau calling out Imperator Furi-Rose-a.
Faber looks a little slimmer here than usual.
Technically yes. But two of those guys fought in the UFC prior to Strikeforce and one of the others isn't the best fighter in his weight class.
The champs in the top four marquis weight classes in the @ufc are all former Strikeforce fighters. #mmamedia
— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) April 25, 2016
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Devin Clark (6-0-0) vs. Alex Nicholson (6-2-0); UFC Fight Night 91, July 13.
Jake Matthews (10-1-0) vs. Steven Ray (19-5-0); UFC The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale, July 8.
TODAY IN MMA HISTORY
2014: Jon Jones defended his UFC light heavyweight championship by defeating Glover Teixeira, blanking him in a 5 round unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 172. The card also featured Anthony Johnson putting the fear into Phil Davis over the course of 3 rounds and Luke Rockhold putting on a Submission of the Year contender when he tapped Tim Boetsch with an inverted triangle/kimura.
1998: Guy Mezger defeated Masakatsu Funaki via unanimous decision to win the Pancrase openweight title at Pancrase: Advance 5.
Former Shoot lightweight champion Alexandre Franca Noguiera made his professional MMA debut, defeating former Shooto featherweight champion Noboru Asahi via guillotine choke at Shooto: Shoot the Shooto XX. Also on the card, UFC and Pride veteran Emmanuel Yarbrough earned his only MMA victory, defeating Tatsuo Nakano via submission: smother.
1993: Former Shooto welterweight champion Yuki Nakai made his professional MMA debut defeating Hiroki Noritsugi via kimura at Shooto-Shooto.
1988: WSOF bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes was born.
1986: UFC middleweight Bartosz Fabinski was born.
1984: Former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit was born. UFC featherweight Cole Miller was born.
1974: Arguably the greatest female mixed martial artist ever, Megumi Fujii was born.
1965: UFC legend David ‘Tank' Abbott was born.
Think I missed a spot? Found something you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and we'll include it in tomorrow's column.
Get the latest gear
