With McGregor bout off, Nate Diaz says 'I don't have any interest in fighting at all'

At today’s UFC 200 press conference, UFC President Dana White killed any remaining hope of salvaging the originally scheduled main event rematch between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor.

After White made it clear they were seeking a new opponent for Diaz (19-10 MMA, 14-8 UFC), the fighter seemed to have a different opinion of how his future would play out.

“I just came to fight Conor McGregor,” Diaz said. “I don’t really have too much interest in anybody else. I don’t have any interest in fighting at all. But if that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to do it.”

Later in the press conference, Diaz said he is planning to go on vacation if he isn’t fighting McGregor (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC). The two originally met at UFC 196, where Diaz scored a massive upset as a late-replacement after Rafael dos Anjos was forced out of his planned lightweight title defense against featherweight champion McGregor.

The planned rematch was scrapped after McGregor tweeted he was “retiring young.” The UFC cancelled the bout and White took to the media to cite McGregor’s refusal to do media as the root of the decision.

UFC 200 takes place July 9 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

White repeatedly said the bout between Diaz and McGregor was off for good during the press conference, seemingly ending any hopes of the situation ironing itself out.

“This thing has pretty much played out in the media. We try to give as much leeway as we can on things. But you have to show up to appearances and you have to shoot the commercials. Is it too much to ask? … Listen, we gave Conor every opportunity in the world to get here. We get criticized a lot for bending too much for Conor, and we do.”

White also said he is not mad at McGregor and the plan is for the winner of the interim featherweight title bout between Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo at UFC 200 to face McGregor in a unification bout at a later date.

At one point, Diaz responded with a pair of thumbs ups to a question of if his stance was a bout with McGregor or nothing at UFC 200 and quickly dismissed a Tweet from the featherweight kingpin that read, “Everyone flew in. Respect. But not everyone up there made the company 400million in 8 months.”

“Conor got his ass beat,” Diaz said.

For more on UFC 200, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.