Conor McGregor today released a statement on social media saying that he "was not retired, despite a post earlier in the week that said the opposite," according to Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com. McGregor on Facebook wrote, "I am just trying to do my job and fight here. I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote. I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting. There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop." McGregor added that he "asked for a reduction in promotional responsibilities" following his loss to Nate Diaz in March, "but that request was denied." McGregor said he is "still ready to go for UFC 200" (ESPN.com, 4/21). USA TODAY's A.J. Perez noted UFC President Dana White on Tuesday announced McGregor "was pulled off the UFC 200 card -- where he was slated to again face" Diaz -- because he "refused to promote the fight." What McGregor's statement today means for his future with the UFC "is unclear" (USATODAY.com, 4/21).
FULFILLING OBLIGATIONS: Okamoto said, "If you're the UFC, you need your stars to promote fights and you need them to show up at press conferences, show up at commercial shoots, especially when you are talking about an event that has the magnitude of UFC 200, is looked at as a landmark event. ... What Conor McGregor is saying here is, ‘I will promote this, but I am not going to promote it like I did earlier in my career where not as many people maybe knew who I was. ... Right now, I have reached a point where I can make one tweet and basically promote this fight so go ahead, spend the money and put other people in front of the camera and let me work because I don’t want to lose my next fight. I am coming off of my first loss.'" Okamoto: "(McGregor) does understand that he does have to do some forms of promotion, but he’s just not at that point anymore where he wants to do every single show" (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 4/21).
