Miesha Tate is "over" the Conor McGregor no-show.
In an interview with ESPN recently, Tate commented on McGregor's absence from promotional duties for UFC 200 and her remarks were subsequently covered by other news outlets including this one. In the interview, Tate commented that the UFC was being reasonable and that McGregor's refusal to show put her in a position to have to "pick up the pieces" which inconvenienced her. As a result of her remarks, Tate says she was getting a lot of "flack" and took to her podcast to clarify her statements.
"Let me get this straight. I am a fan of Conor McGregor. I think he has an awesome fighting style and he markets himself so uniquely, you can't discredit that. He does a phenomenal job, everyone loves to watch him fight and that's myself included. But I think that Dana [White] is 100% right in saying, ‘hey if you're not going to show up to do your part of the job then there's going to be consequences.' You can't be the main event of one of the biggest cards of the year and not do the necessary media obligations. I disagree with him not showing up to that."
During the McGregor-UFC saga Dana White has maintained that the reason the featherweight champion was pulled from UFC 200 was his refusal to fulfill media obligations including doing a press tour and filming a commercial for the event. Millions of promotional dollars have gone into the event and the absence of McGregor forced the UFC to pivot to other means to fill in the gaps, which meant turning to other stars on the card. That is the genesis of Tate's "pieces" comment which she was keen to explain.
"And what I mean by ‘had to pick up some pieces' was the day that we had to film the commercial - which Dana White told me that they spent like ten million dollars marketing this card, they're way over budget but you've got to spend money to make money kind of a thing - So he's putting so much money into this and he offered, Conor was going to get to fly over in a private jet and bring up to twenty people with him. I mean, how awesome first of all. And how easy. You bring your whole gym with you pretty much if you want to. You could probably train on the plane. It's a private plane. Hit mitts on the plane. You know, train right when you land and then you're in and out. They tried to make it as easy as they could on him but if you are the main event you have to do that. You've got to do that stuff.
"Like I was saying, coming back to that, the day that the commercial was supposed to be filmed it was supposed to be myself, Amanda [Nunes], Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo had to film two segments for this commercial and the main event had to film two segments plus one more segment which is the highlight of the commercial which is the main event. Well because the main event didn't show up we had to, they literally begged me when I showed up that morning, they begged me to come back - by ‘they' I mean the producers of the commercial - begged me to come back and said ‘can you please come back later today and film this third segment?' Well that third segment happened to be over my practice time, my pro practice at my gym which I didn't want to miss but obviously they were hurting so bad and they really were like ‘please' like basically on their knees, ‘we need this segment of the commercial and we don't have the main event now so we have to film it with you guys and see how it all comes together.'
"So anyways, I agreed and came back and filmed the third one but that caused me to miss my practice and I had to switch everything around and it wouldn't have been as big of a deal if I had known before but it was the day of and it threw a wrench in the whole mix and was just kind of frustrating to be honest."
Tate was also quick to point out that she was not the only one who felt this way, just the most vocal.
"And it wasn't just me, it was all of us. But I'm outspoken. I have a freakin' mouth that I can't control sometimes and I just say how I really feel. I'm pretty transparent. But I'm not one-sided either. That doesn't mean I have any hard feelings towards Conor. That doesn't mean that I hate the guy or that I'm not a fan of his, absolutely not, but I'm going to say how I feel."
That outspokenness made her a target for the brunt of fan backlash supporting McGregor. Tate certainly wasn't the only fighter who felt that way - In the aftermath of McGregor's standoff with Dana White, almost everyone voiced an opinion on McGregor's decision to refuse this media tour - but Tate, being a reigning champion, was one of the more visible fighters in the UFC and thus more in the line of fire. And though it is clear Tate wishes the conversation surrounding this ordeal could be more reasonable, she is not going to change her mind or kowtow to fan backlash.
"Sometimes people are like ‘oh you're complaining,' well if you were in my shoes and you had to miss your practice to pick up something that Conor didn't give any notice on that he wasn't going to be there and then they're asking you to fill in the blank when it was his job and his responsibility and his contract to do it, I mean yeah am I allowed to be a little bit frustrated? I think so. I think that's fair. It is what it is. It's done now, it's over with, I don't care, it doesn't bother me anymore but at that moment in time I'm going to tell people the truth. Freakin' shoot me I guess for voicing my opinion."
Miesha Tate defends her UFC women's bantamweight championship against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 on July 9th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Hall of Fame. UFC to induct 5 new members into the Hall of Fame on July 10.
IR. Cain Velasquez admits 'things have to change' after his injury woes.
Portrait of the artist as a bad b**ch. E. Casey Leydon's profile on Invicta FC bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger.
Dancing away. Paige VanZant will no longer be a part of UFC 200 due to Dancing with the Stars.
Bro down. Brothers Ben and Caros Fodor will fight each other at WSOF 32.
EXTRA CREDIT READING
Hollywood endings. JJ Saddington of Sprawl MMA interviews UK MMA poineer Alex Reid ahead of his return to MMA at Bellator 158.
MEDIA STEW
"I watched her last training and [Ronda] was doing shadowboxing on the beach and her shadow won." DAGGER.
I never thought of Thiago Alves as a small welterweight. Interested to see how he looks cutting to 155.
"It's called Pride rules."
Jack Slack would like to teach y'all some things.
This is a really good promo.
Cain seemed way happier at this one than the other interviews they did.
Awesome front kick KO at 4:52.
LONG WATCHES
TWEETS
Calling the KO of Aldo exactly how it happened was significantly more impressive. Also, Nate hit that 1-2 on a rear hand uppercut attempt. Great punch for RDA, maybe less so for Nate.
He said the whole entire game on his knees and now he's on his stomach begging for a happy meal
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) May 3, 2016
Please share if you in Palm Beach County in Florida.#FightJordanFight pic.twitter.com/6YFD5SIIfa
— Gesias JZ Cavalcante (@Gesias) May 3, 2016
No more pic.twitter.com/wspciZWsNh
— Derrick Lewis (@Thebeast_ufc) May 3, 2016
This is cool as all hell.
And that is remarkably impressive.
That knee sends him back like he was on ice.
Better than that beach training.
FYI, they fought each other once. It's a shame Ian McCall has so many injury issues because that guy was one hell of a fighter.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mehdi Baghdad (11-4-0) vs. John Makdessi (13-5-0); UFC Fight Night 90, July 7. (Fight moved from UFC 199).
Mike Pyle (27-11-1) vs. Alberto Mina (12-0-0); UFC Fight Night 90, July 7.
Gilbert Burns (10-1-0) vs. Lukasz Sajewski (13-1-0); UFC Fight Night 90, July 7.
Alvaro Herrera (9-3-0) vs. Vicente Luque (8-5-1); UFC Fight Night 90, July 7.
Marco Beltran (7-3-0) vs. Reginaldo Vieira (13-3-0); UFC Fight Night 90, July 7.
Raoni Barcelos (9-1-0) vs. Bobby Moffett (8-1-0); RFA 39, June 17.
Manny Vasquez (8-1-0) vs. Steven Peterson (13-4-0); Legacy FC 56, June 24.
Jason Sampson (13-1-0) vs. Ryan Hollis (11-8-0); Legacy FC 56, June 24.
Edwin Figueroa (9-4-0) vs. Levi Mowles (3-0-0); Legacy FC 56, June 24.
Geoff Neal (6-1-0) vs. Andrew Parker (6-2-0); Legacy FC 56, June 24.
Cody Walker (6-3-0) vs. J.C. Cottrell (16-3-0); Legacy FC 56, June 24.
Elizar Rodriguez (8-5-0) vs. Miles Johns (2-0-0); Legacy FC 56, June 24.
TODAY IN MMA HISTORY
2012: Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler defeated Akihiro Gono with punches in the first round in a non-title superfight at Bellator 67.
2005: Shooto bantamweight champion Mamoru Yamaguchi knocked out Stonnie Dennis with a kick in a non-title bout at Shooto: 5/4 in Korakuen Hall.
2003: Current Bellator bantamweight champion Marcos Galvao made his MMA debut, defeating Masato Shiozawa via majority decision in Shooto: 5/4 at Korakuen Hall.
2001: One of the greatest UFC events of all time, UFC 31: Locked and Loaded, was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In the main event Randy Couture defended his UFC heavyweight championship against Pedro Rizzo, winning a unanimous decision in what was the 2001 Fight of the Year.
In the other championship bout, Carlos Newton defeated Pat Miletich via bulldog choke to become the new UFC welterweight champion.
Elsewhere on the card, Chuck Liddell knocked out Kevin Randleman with punches in the first round and Shonie Carter delivered one of the most iconic highlights in UFC history when he knocked out Matt Serra with a spinning back fist with 9 seconds remaining in the third round of a fight he was losing.
This event also marked the MMA debut of future UFC Hall of Famer and your favorite fighter's favorite fighter: BJ Penn. He stopped Joey Gilbert with punches in the first round.
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
