A bizarre day indeed, as UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has been pulled from his UFC 200 main event welterweight battle against Nate Diaz.
UFC officially pulls Conor McGregor from UFC 200
UFC President Dana White made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
BREAKING NEWS: UFC pulls @TheNotoriousMMA from #UFC200. @danawhite on @SportsCenter now.
— UFC (@ufc) April 19, 2016
According to White, McGregor was removed from the event because he wouldn’t attend a press conference to promote UFC 200.
“Obviously we still have a good relationship with Conor,” White said. “I respect Conor as a fighter and I like him as a person. But you can’t decide not to show up to these things. You have to do it.”
This news comes just hours after McGregor took to Twitter announcing his retirement from the sport.
With the removal of McGregor, White announced that there would be another bout added to the UFC 200 fight card.