Conor McGregor: UFC 200 card 'bombed' without me on it

In a new interview with GQ Magazine, UFC featherweight champion and UFC 202 headliner Conor McGregor was asked about a number of topics related to his career. The Irish fighter spoke about his UFC 196 loss to Nate Diaz, his expensive fight camp for Saturday's rematch and more.

Another topics McGregor addressed was UFC 200.

McGregor and Diaz were originally set to face off as the main event in July, but McGregor was removed from the UFC 200 card in April when he refused to meet the UFC's pre-fight media obligations. McGregor briefly threatened retirement, but never formally declared. After attempts to find Diaz a suitable replacement failed, both fighters were pulled from the card.

Eventually, an agreement between McGregor and Diaz was reached to fight again and the pair were set up as the top bout for UFC 202.

Nevertheless, McGregor told GQ he wasn't impressed with what he saw at UFC 200, which included a scuttled main event due to pre-fight testing that flagged Jon Jones as having failed a test for performance enhancing drugs. Co-main event participant Brock Lesnar would also later be shown to have failed tests both in and out of competition.

According to McGregor, he wanted to get back on the UFC 200 card after he was removed, but the UFC wouldn't let him. In the end, he said, the card ended up suffering as a consequence.

"People spend a lot of money to come see me fight from my hometown, and they had already purchased tickets, so I wanted to get back on that card," McGregor told the magazine. "They weren't having it. They didn't put me in the card—that's okay—and the card bombed. I was ringside. The fights weren't great, but now here we are."