The UFC has decided to pull Conor McGregor out of his rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 200 after the Irish fighter posted a cryptic message about retiring early. It is not yet clear what the professional fight league plans to do for its main card in the upcoming pay-per-view event.
Earlier this week, McGregor took to Twitter to tease his fans about an early retirement. But, since neither his camp nor the UFC has released an official statement whether this is true not, it cannot yet be confirmed if McGregor has ended his fighting career.
"I have decided to retire young," he posted. "Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya's later."
Then, hours after the tweet was made, UFC President Dana White announced that McGregor will no longer fight in UFC 200. Although it would seem that these two incidents are connected with one another, White clarified that the decision was made because McGregor refused to attend a scheduled promotional event in Las Vegas.
Apparently, McGregor is currently in Iceland preparing for the bout, and it is believed that he doesn't want to leave because he felt that this would disrupt his training. This, however, did not sit well with White.
"Conor didn't want to come to Las Vegas and be part of any promotional training," the UFC president said in a statement according to the Daily Mail. "He's in Iceland training. He felt leaving right now would hurt his training. But every other fighter on the card is coming."
"It doesn't make you exempt," White added. "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."
Missing out on UFC 200 for a chance to face off against Diaz in the Octagon again is a huge waste for McGregor especially since he has been very vocal about avenging his first loss after joining the UFC.
Although UFC 200 will still take place on July 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, it is not yet clear who will be invited to fight against Diaz.
