McGregor McRetires? No. But let's talk about him anyway.

[herbie747]

 then he starts playing funny buggers so soon to the press conference.

 

 

What does that mean? He wanted more money? He wanted less media? Something else?

[wandshogun09]

Yeah it's always about money at the core of it, whenever there's conflict between a fighter and a promoter. For Conor it's about money, I mean. I dare say Mike has a point about it being more about power for Lorenzo. Of course he could afford to give Conor some more money but he no doubt wants to rein him in.

 

You could see something like this was bound to happen eventually. I remember Helwani doing a sitdown interview with McGregor a while back, might've been around the time of either the Poirier or Siver fights, and McGregor was rambling about co-promotion and having his fights presented as something like 'McGregor Promotions...in association with UFC' or something. I thought he was joking at first but the more he talked and the more Helwani asked him to elaborate, it was obvious he was serious. That was when I first thought 'hang on a minute, this is going to get tricky at some point'. The UFC are never going to let one fighter position themselves as greater than the company. I love that McGregor has the brass balls to try to be the one to change that but Zuffa aren't doing that shit, nor should they. They never got to where they are by making stupid decisions like that and they're not going to start now. Insisting on co-promotion was one of the major roadblocks in the UFC/Fedor negotiations in 2009 as well, and Dana wanted Fedor in the UFC badly at that time.

 

McGregor's going to have to budge on this. I can't see the UFC bending any more than they have already. I'm sure the money can be worked out eventually. But McGregor's going to have to reset his expectations on how much power he's going to be able to flex because it seems he's overplayed his hand a bit here and misjudged the UFC's willingness to give in to his demands.

 

Fair play to him for trying but he's gone about a lot of this in a bit of a piss poor way really. Just get as much money as you can and get back on this fucking card, will you, Conor?

[herbie747]

Exactly, Wand.

[JNLister]

Do people honestly believe that if there are no power or money issues bubbling up, we'd genuinely have a scenario where they announce McGregor for the biggest show in UFC history, he says "Soz, not going to make that press conference three months before the fight" and Dana White goes "Well fuck that, we'll have to cancel the fight now"?

[lambyUK]

The co-promotion spiel genuinely baffled me. I thought he was playing his cards far too early in his career and making it public knowledge certainly wasn't the best idea. As people mentioned, that shit must have got under Dana and Lorenzo's skin. Who knows what the future would have brought, but coming out with that was really ill advised.

 

The other thing is why on earth is he that arsed about co-promotion? I get that he thinks it's more cash for him, but the UFC would just continue to add zeros to his contract the bigger his PPV's became.They would never agree to co-promotion. Just ask Fedor. 

 

He really has shot himself in the foot for me with this bullshit last tweet. I could see the reason behind the previous tweets as that was impacting on him and the company alone. However, this last one fucked with many people's emotions and potential plans for Vegas. 

Edited April 26, 2016 by lambyUK

[David]

 

 then he starts playing funny buggers so soon to the press conference.

 

 

What does that mean? He wanted more money? He wanted less media? Something else?

 

It could mean one of them, or all of them, Herb. It's just a saying we have here in Brittania that basically means that he decided to act up.

[the_mole]

They said they wouldn't co-promote with Strikeforce, even though they owned them, probably didn't want Showtime involved.

 

They were going to do it with Pride but they sent fighters over and never got any back, first when Zuffa was losing money then months after Pride list their TV deal and were for sale they announced Chuck Vs Wand and then that fell through.

 

Conor has never promoted a show, would he pay half, even a small one in Ireland, would he pay half of the payouts, production and advertising costs?

Edited April 26, 2016 by the_mole

[herbie747]

 

 

 then he starts playing funny buggers so soon to the press conference.

 

 

What does that mean? He wanted more money? He wanted less media? Something else?

 

It could mean one of them, or all of them, Herb. It's just a saying we have here in Brittania that basically means that he decided to act up.

 

We know he acted up - we're all discussing what it was about.

[David]

 

 

 

 then he starts playing funny buggers so soon to the press conference.

 

 

What does that mean? He wanted more money? He wanted less media? Something else?

 

It could mean one of them, or all of them, Herb. It's just a saying we have here in Brittania that basically means that he decided to act up.

 

 

We know he acted up - we're all discussing what it was about.

 

Yeah, so was I? Not quite sure why you quoted a small part of my post? I assumed you weren't familiar with the term?

[herbie747]

I wasn't familiar with the term.

 

But on the last page, I said that it was about money - not the press appearances; you said "Nah", and then in response you said he was playing funny buggers. Playing funny buggers is not a reason. 

[David]

I wasn't familiar with the term.

 

But on the last page, I said that it was about money - not the press appearances; you said "Nah", and then in response you said he was playing funny buggers. Playing funny buggers is not a reason. 

 

You mentioned money four posts up from where I posted though? Your post right above mines was addressing the point made by Mike that he imagined Lorenzo would be fuming about how Conor's been talking about "running the show" and suchlike, and you said that you didn't imagine that would bother him, mentioning the negotiating tactics probably playing a part.

 

My "nah" was basically agreeing with you, and disagreeing with Mike, which is why I went on to mention that McGregor "playing funny buggers" after signing the bout agreement (ie; fucking about after negotiations) had something to do with all of this in my opinion.

 

Wow, this is a weird conversation! 

[Supremo]

Nate Diaz announced on Twitter that he's going on vacation. I guess he's come to terms with the fight not happening.

[herbie747]

Fair enough, David - assumed you were saying Nah to me - which made no sense considering what you followed up with, which essentially agreed with me. Cool.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I always got the impression Conor wants boxing money. The type of money the top PPV fighters make there.

 

The UFC goes here is your slice of a 1 million selling PPV. Then he see's his money ain't even close to a Canelo or a Pacman and a million miles from a Mayweather.

 

I'm guessing even Anthony Joshua is out earning him at the moment just on UK arena's and PPV's.

 

I don't want to turn this into a boxing vs UFC thing but its about Conor. His comments about money, co-promotion and Mayweather I think he wants those Mayweather type paydays that will never come in the UFC and he keeps trying to push the top brass trying to get them.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Cousin Jim Bob

[jimufctna24]

"Conor's his own guy, he's going to do what he's going to do but he's not fighting on [uFC] 200,” White said while mentioning that he has no ill will toward McGregor. “Listen, he'll fight on 201, 202, 203, whatever, I don't know when, but we'll get it figured out."

 

 

Quote from Dana this morning.

 

I think we'll see the Diaz rematch at the back-end of Summer (August/September). The crazy thing is that even without a supporting cast, it will probably be a bigger spectacle than UFC 200, and perhaps even UFC's debut at MSG. The PPV buyrate and media interest will be at an all-time high, maybe even surpassing UFC 100. 

 

Whatever can be said about McGregor's antics this week, he's still easily the biggest star in the UFC. While his character has taken a knock this week, the rematch with Diaz is still the most lucrative in combat sport, and it's not even close. Like it or not - McGregor is going to dominate the MMA circus for the foreseeable future.