The whirlwind ride for UFC and Conor McGregor will have a satisfactory ending, as the 27-year-old will take on Nate Diaz at UFC 200 on July 9.
McGregor himself tweeted the news early Monday morning:
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
However, John Morgan of MMA Junkie indicated "nothing changed in regard to [McGregor's] exclusion from UFC 200," according to multiple sources.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN speculated about how this would impact McGregor if this is the case:
IF McGregor is in fact NOT on UFC 200 as he says, then I'm thinking he might have just blew up the last chance of it happening. Wild.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 25, 2016
This fight has been one of the most unusual situations involving a fighter in UFC history. McGregor and Diaz agreed to a match at UFC 200 on March 30, less than four weeks after Diaz handed McGregor his first UFC loss.
On April 19, McGregor sent out a cryptic tweet saying that he was going to "retire young":
I have decided to retire young.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 19, 2016
Thanks for the cheese.
Catch ya's later.
White appeared on SportsCenter that same day, per ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto, announced that McGregor had been pulled off the UFC 200 card because he was refusing to fly to Las Vegas and do the mandatory promotional activities.
"We pulled Conor McGregor from UFC 200 and we're working on other fights right now," White said. "Conor did not want to come to Las Vegas and film the commercial and be a part of the marketing. He's in Iceland training. Is Conor retiring? Only he can answer that question. I don't know."
One day later, White appeared on Fox Sports 1's UFC Tonight and said the "window is pretty much closed" on McGregor being put back on UFC 200:
. @UFC Prez @DanaWhite explains why he pulled @TheNotoriousMMA off #UFC200 and why there's no chance it will change. https://t.co/PgP50GMVBm
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) April 21, 2016
After nearly 48 hours of silence from McGregor's side, he finally addressed the situation in a post on his official Facebook page:
It was still uncertain if the bout between McGregor and Diaz would be put back on the UFC 200 card following that message. He did give the company plenty of time to make it happen, as there are still more than two months to go before the show.
Despite all the controversy and White's initial insistence McGregor would not have a spot on the landmark event, UFC is still a business. McGregor has been great for UFC on the events he has headlined, per Forbes (via SportsCenter):
Conor McGregor has headlined the 3 highest live-gate UFC fights in the U.S., according to Forbes. pic.twitter.com/XJLnM09k1b
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 21, 2016
Even though UFC 200 has a deep card, with Miesha Tate defending the women's bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes and Jose Aldo challenging Frankie Edgar, the show was going to be built around McGregor.
Luckily, UFC and McGregor were able to reach an agreement. UFC 200 will take place on July 9 with the biggest star in the sport headlining the show.
