Conor McGregor Retracts Retirement 

Today, via a statement on his Facebook page, UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor retracted his retirement tweet that was issued on Tuesday.

The fighter, who was pulled from his rematch against Nate Diaz on the UFC 200 card officially by Dana White during a segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Tuesday, cited his desire to be prepared with a full training camp, unmarred by promotional appearances.

There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop, said McGregor via the statement.

50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photo shoots, and at the end of it all I’m left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation. And the many distractions that led to this. Nothing else was going through my mind.

McGregor (20-3) was scheduled to come to Las Vegas this week from Iceland, where his current training camp is located. He stated very clearly that he is “still ready to go for UFC 200.”

Nate Diaz (19-10), who lives and trains in Stockton, California, is in Las Vegas this week and has not been rescheduled to another fight date or opponent yet.

McGregors last loss before Diaz was in 2010 in a smaller MMA organization based in Europe. The impressive win streak currently stands at 16 fights, with12 KOs and 1 submission that led him all the way to a UFC Featherweight belt.

Diaz, who he fought at a higher weight class of 170lbs versus his usual 145lbs, was McGregors first loss in the UFC. His apparent explanation for that rear naked choke submission loss is too much time spent on promoting events.

One thing is clear from McGregors words, he feels his star is bright enough to dictate terms with the notoriously bullish UFC brass.

I feel the $400 million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway,” he wrote. “I am still ready to go for UFC 200.”

I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training,” McGregor continued. “With no distractions. If this is not enough or they feel I have not deserved to sit this promotion run out this one time, well then I don’t know what to say.

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