With the MMA universe still reeling from the shakeup to UFC 200, Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz came together for a press conference to promote UFC 202 (warning, NSFW language). Unsurprisingly, it was a bit of an odd one. And, also unsurprisingly, the topic of their own ill-fated UFC 200 main event fight came up.
Speaking with the assembled media, McGregor kept things classy...but couldn't quite bottle up all of his schadenfreude.
"I could sit up here and say 'well, well, well,' but you know, I am a successful human being, and successful human beings do not celebrate in the adversity or misfortune of others," McGregor said when asked for his thoughts on the Jon Jones situation. "I wish Jon well, I wish everyone backstage well. I know they're running around like headless chickens trying to get everything together, but all I missed was a press conference. If I look at the facts, the main event of the fight and the co-main event of the fight weren't even at that press conference, so it is what it is."
(Warning, NSFW Language)
While there wasn't a smile on McGregor's face or any joy in his tone, make no mistake. Some shade was thrown there.
For those that don't remember, Diaz posted a dramatic upset win over McGregor in their short notice fight at UFC 196. After being repeatedly tagged with punches in the first round, Diaz tagged McGregor with a straight left that wobbled him badly, and chased him with strikes before scoring the finish in the second via rear-naked choke.
The fight shook up the UFC in a big way, as it put the top of the featherweight division and lightweight division in limbo and made a star of Diaz, whom the company has a prickly history with.
An immediate rematch was initially booked for UFC 200, but a dispute between McGregor and UFC brass over media appearances led to the UFC scrapping the fight. After a great deal of drama and public back-and-forth between all three parties, the fight was eventually rescheduled for UFC 202 in August.
Their fight was replaced by a light heavyweight title unification bout between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones. Unfortunately, news broke on Wednesday night that the fight was being scrapped just three days before the event, due to a possible doping violation by Jones.
The situation lent credibility to the rumors of a rift (warning, NSFW language) between UFC brass and the McGregor camp and has resulted in a fair bit of snark in the media, with the most recent example coming on Wednesday night.
@John_Kavanagh zero
— Dana White (@danawhite) July 7, 2016
Still, McGregor did admit that he could have handled the situation better. "There was a lot of stuff going on when all that other stuff was going on. I witnessed that tragedy inside the cage ... and it affected my whole team." He continued later, "We just wanted to get out and get away. ... What I would have done differently is communicating it a little bit better ... I messed up the way I communicated it ... I feel I played it a bit wrong but they also played it wrong. I've done an awful lot for the company."
While the McGregor vs. UFC drama likely isn't done yet, fans can look forward to the highly anticipated Diaz vs. McGregor 2 on August 20 in Las Vegas.
