Conor McGregor is restrained by Dana White and Dave Sholler at the UFC 202 press conference.
– Paul Dollery reports from Las Vegas
THE DIAZ BROTHERS are normally the ones who break the rules, so it was unusual to see Nate Diaz sitting to Dana White’s right, while — once again — an empty seat that should have been occupied by Conor McGregor was on the UFC president’s left when the UFC 202 press conference began last night at the David Copperfield Theatre at the MGM Grand.
Back in April, McGregor failed to attend a press conference to promote his rematch with Diaz. The fight was consequently pulled from last month’s UFC 200 card, before later being rescheduled for this Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena.
John Morgan of MMAjunkie.com opened the press conference by quizzing White about McGregor’s whereabouts. The scars from the UFC’s row with McGregor earlier this year have clearly yet to heal, as evidenced by the gruff response to that first question.
“He’s not here. We’re starting without him,” said White. “He has to start respecting people’s time. We have only so much time in this room. Listen, we’re having a press conference here. If it’s over before he gets here, it’s over. Do you have any questions, other than Conor being late?”
Fifteen minutes after White and Diaz — along with UFC 202 co-headliners Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and Glover Teixeira — sat down at the top table in front of a large congregation of journalists and a couple of hundred fans, who were seated at the back of the room, McGregor finally arrived for an event which was due to begin at 1pm.
“I thought it was [starting] at 1.30pm. I was told 1.30pm,” said McGregor, when asked by MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani about his late arrival. “Vegas traffic is heavy as well at this time of year. There must be a McGregor show going on because the place is packed out.”
For the first time since his debut as a Vegas pay-per-view headliner in July of last year, McGregor was embellishing the extent of the impact of his involvement in a show in the fight capital of the world. This rematch has, by the lofty standards McGregor has set, flown largely under the radar when it comes to publicity.
The Olympics currently dominates the sporting landscape, and with McGregor’s legion of Irish fans still likely to be counting the cost of Ireland’s Euro 2016 campaign and the UFC star’s three previous Vegas bouts in the past 13 months, the invasion of the green army has yet to begin. Even though the fight is still two days away, that’s not expected to change.
McGregor had only spent three minutes or so in his seat when Diaz decided to vacate his. Seemingly prompted to do so by one of his 25-strong entourage — his older brother Nick, by many accounts — who were located in front of the stage, Diaz made his way towards the exit, followed by his training partners and coaches. He’d had enough of playing by the rules. But he didn’t go silently.
Diaz: “Fuck your whole team. How about that?”
McGregor: “Fuck your whole team. You’ll do nothing.”
McGregor initially laughed the incident off, but as Diaz turned his attentions to McGregor’s entourage — which included his girlfriend, Dee Devlin — who were situated closer to the exit on the opposite side of the room, the Dubliner lost his cool.
Diaz: “Come out here and get your motherfucking ass whooped — your whole team. All you Irish motherfuckers.”
McGregor: “Shut your fucking mouth. You’ll do nothing. You’ll do fucking nothing. Not one of you will. Get the fuck out of here! Get the fuck out of here!”
With Diaz’s camp — led by Nick and Nate with their middle fingers raised — beckoning McGregor’s team towards them, Nate launched a plastic bottle of water in their direction. As the missiles began to fly back and forth, McGregor was back out of his seat.
Ignoring Dana White’s pleas — “Conor, don’t throw those fucking cans!” — he returned fire with a couple of cans of Monster energy drink. McGregor was eventually restrained by White and Dave Sholler, the UFC’s head of press, while Diaz’s team were escorted out of the room by security personnel after instigating the chaos that ensued.
“Sorry, guys. See you Saturday,” White, looking exasperated, told the fans. But for them, he had nothing to apologise for. After what had been an otherwise uneventful press conference, they were overjoyed by what they had just witnessed. And White is unlikely to complain either, despite his initial demeanour.
The general consensus, in the room afterwards and on social media, is that the real winner from the skirmish will be the pay-per-view ratings for Saturday night’s event — and by extension, Diaz, McGregor and the UFC. The message from Diaz’s camp was that if you’re showing up late, we’re leaving early.
McGregor has been focused entirely on ensuring that he is as well prepared as he can possibly be for this weekend’s revenge mission, which has resulted in a decrease in the amount of promotional bravado we have come to expect from the featherweight champion.
It’s being billed as the biggest rematch — some believe it’s the biggest fight, period — in UFC history, but there was a perception that it lacked the hype that usually accompanies a Conor McGregor outing. This incident has seemingly done the trick and rectified that, but when you look beyond the pantomime, it can be difficult to understand why.
These two men are going to put themselves through physical torture in a couple of days. They will punch, kick, elbow and grapple each other, potentially for 25 whole minutes. Why exactly does the exchange of a few plastic missiles make that a more intriguing prospect? Far more harmful objects will be thrown on Saturday night.
Mixed martial arts is a gripping sport, never more so in instances like this rematch where McGregor will seek to implement sufficient changes to overcome the only man to get the better of him in the UFC. I’m fascinated to watch how he intends to go about doing so, while simultaneously observing Diaz’s attempts to repeat his victory of last March.
Incidents like last night’s do very little for the reputation of a sport whose protagonists often bemoan a lack of mainstream acceptance. The terms ‘staged’ and ‘WWE’ featured regularly on social media and in our comments section on the report of the incident, and while those observers are never likely to embrace MMA anyway, that still provides an insight into how such a situation is viewed by ‘the mainstream’.
That press conference was a mess. Remember when this used to be about martial arts...? #UFC202
Press conference drama has been a staple of prize fighting since the days of Muhammad Ali, so it’s by no means exclusive to mixed martial arts. But with MMA, perhaps the balance between sport and pantomime needs to be redressed — which is a shame, because in spite of its detractors, the sport can be thrilling.
There’ll be further opportunities for Diaz and McGregor to cross paths at this evening’s open workouts at the Red Rock (11pm Irish time) and tomorrow night’s weigh-ins at the MGM Grand (midnight), but their next altercation will hopefully be saved for the octagon at the T-Mobile Arena in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Nate Diaz and his team enjoyed last night’s incident. The original bad boys of the UFC have seen it all before — and thrived. McGregor has brushed it off, but he was agitated. That much is certain. Diaz offered bait and McGregor accepted.
Should that manifest itself in McGregor’s performance this weekend, it could be to the detriment of several months of meticulous preparation which has been geared towards redemption.
Before this rivalry with Diaz began, McGregor, a master of mind games, ensured that he entered each of his UFC bouts with a psychological advantage. Diaz levelled that playing field. In fact, come Saturday night, he may even have given himself a headstart.
Letter from Las Vegas: Juvenile jostling tests McGregor's bottle at farcical press conference
– Paul Dollery reports from Las Vegas
THE DIAZ BROTHERS are normally the ones who break the rules, so it was unusual to see Nate Diaz sitting to Dana White’s right, while — once again — an empty seat that should have been occupied by Conor McGregor was on the UFC president’s left when the UFC 202 press conference began last night at the David Copperfield Theatre at the MGM Grand.
Back in April, McGregor failed to attend a press conference to promote his rematch with Diaz. The fight was consequently pulled from last month’s UFC 200 card, before later being rescheduled for this Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena.
John Morgan of MMAjunkie.com opened the press conference by quizzing White about McGregor’s whereabouts. The scars from the UFC’s row with McGregor earlier this year have clearly yet to heal, as evidenced by the gruff response to that first question.
“He’s not here. We’re starting without him,” said White. “He has to start respecting people’s time. We have only so much time in this room. Listen, we’re having a press conference here. If it’s over before he gets here, it’s over. Do you have any questions, other than Conor being late?”
Fifteen minutes after White and Diaz — along with UFC 202 co-headliners Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and Glover Teixeira — sat down at the top table in front of a large congregation of journalists and a couple of hundred fans, who were seated at the back of the room, McGregor finally arrived for an event which was due to begin at 1pm.
“I thought it was [starting] at 1.30pm. I was told 1.30pm,” said McGregor, when asked by MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani about his late arrival. “Vegas traffic is heavy as well at this time of year. There must be a McGregor show going on because the place is packed out.”
For the first time since his debut as a Vegas pay-per-view headliner in July of last year, McGregor was embellishing the extent of the impact of his involvement in a show in the fight capital of the world. This rematch has, by the lofty standards McGregor has set, flown largely under the radar when it comes to publicity.
The Olympics currently dominates the sporting landscape, and with McGregor’s legion of Irish fans still likely to be counting the cost of Ireland’s Euro 2016 campaign and the UFC star’s three previous Vegas bouts in the past 13 months, the invasion of the green army has yet to begin. Even though the fight is still two days away, that’s not expected to change.
McGregor had only spent three minutes or so in his seat when Diaz decided to vacate his. Seemingly prompted to do so by one of his 25-strong entourage — his older brother Nick, by many accounts — who were located in front of the stage, Diaz made his way towards the exit, followed by his training partners and coaches. He’d had enough of playing by the rules. But he didn’t go silently.
Diaz: “Fuck your whole team. How about that?”
McGregor: “Fuck your whole team. You’ll do nothing.”
McGregor initially laughed the incident off, but as Diaz turned his attentions to McGregor’s entourage — which included his girlfriend, Dee Devlin — who were situated closer to the exit on the opposite side of the room, the Dubliner lost his cool.
Diaz: “Come out here and get your motherfucking ass whooped — your whole team. All you Irish motherfuckers.”
McGregor: “Shut your fucking mouth. You’ll do nothing. You’ll do fucking nothing. Not one of you will. Get the fuck out of here! Get the fuck out of here!”
With Diaz’s camp — led by Nick and Nate with their middle fingers raised — beckoning McGregor’s team towards them, Nate launched a plastic bottle of water in their direction. As the missiles began to fly back and forth, McGregor was back out of his seat.
Ignoring Dana White’s pleas — “Conor, don’t throw those fucking cans!” — he returned fire with a couple of cans of Monster energy drink. McGregor was eventually restrained by White and Dave Sholler, the UFC’s head of press, while Diaz’s team were escorted out of the room by security personnel after instigating the chaos that ensued.
“Sorry, guys. See you Saturday,” White, looking exasperated, told the fans. But for them, he had nothing to apologise for. After what had been an otherwise uneventful press conference, they were overjoyed by what they had just witnessed. And White is unlikely to complain either, despite his initial demeanour.
The general consensus, in the room afterwards and on social media, is that the real winner from the skirmish will be the pay-per-view ratings for Saturday night’s event — and by extension, Diaz, McGregor and the UFC. The message from Diaz’s camp was that if you’re showing up late, we’re leaving early.
McGregor has been focused entirely on ensuring that he is as well prepared as he can possibly be for this weekend’s revenge mission, which has resulted in a decrease in the amount of promotional bravado we have come to expect from the featherweight champion.
It’s being billed as the biggest rematch — some believe it’s the biggest fight, period — in UFC history, but there was a perception that it lacked the hype that usually accompanies a Conor McGregor outing. This incident has seemingly done the trick and rectified that, but when you look beyond the pantomime, it can be difficult to understand why.
These two men are going to put themselves through physical torture in a couple of days. They will punch, kick, elbow and grapple each other, potentially for 25 whole minutes. Why exactly does the exchange of a few plastic missiles make that a more intriguing prospect? Far more harmful objects will be thrown on Saturday night.
Mixed martial arts is a gripping sport, never more so in instances like this rematch where McGregor will seek to implement sufficient changes to overcome the only man to get the better of him in the UFC. I’m fascinated to watch how he intends to go about doing so, while simultaneously observing Diaz’s attempts to repeat his victory of last March.
Incidents like last night’s do very little for the reputation of a sport whose protagonists often bemoan a lack of mainstream acceptance. The terms ‘staged’ and ‘WWE’ featured regularly on social media and in our comments section on the report of the incident, and while those observers are never likely to embrace MMA anyway, that still provides an insight into how such a situation is viewed by ‘the mainstream’.
Press conference drama has been a staple of prize fighting since the days of Muhammad Ali, so it’s by no means exclusive to mixed martial arts. But with MMA, perhaps the balance between sport and pantomime needs to be redressed — which is a shame, because in spite of its detractors, the sport can be thrilling.
There’ll be further opportunities for Diaz and McGregor to cross paths at this evening’s open workouts at the Red Rock (11pm Irish time) and tomorrow night’s weigh-ins at the MGM Grand (midnight), but their next altercation will hopefully be saved for the octagon at the T-Mobile Arena in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Nate Diaz and his team enjoyed last night’s incident. The original bad boys of the UFC have seen it all before — and thrived. McGregor has brushed it off, but he was agitated. That much is certain. Diaz offered bait and McGregor accepted.
Should that manifest itself in McGregor’s performance this weekend, it could be to the detriment of several months of meticulous preparation which has been geared towards redemption.
Before this rivalry with Diaz began, McGregor, a master of mind games, ensured that he entered each of his UFC bouts with a psychological advantage. Diaz levelled that playing field. In fact, come Saturday night, he may even have given himself a headstart.
How Diaz forced McGregor to change the approach that brought him to the top
McGregor facing a tall order as UFC fighters make their predictions for Diaz rematch
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Conor McGregor MMA Nate Diaz UFC UFC 202