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Conor McGregor still at odds with UFC over media obligations

Conor McGregor speaking with the press.
Conor McGregor still isn’t a fan of the UFC’s media obligations. (Getty Images)

Although Conor McGregor and the UFC made amends in order for the Irishman to get a second chance at Nate Diaz at UFC 202, that doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is kosher between the two sides. As a matter of fact, McGregor revealed that he and the UFC don’t exactly see eye-to-eye when it comes to the very reason that McGregor was pulled from UFC 200: media obligations.

While at an event to promote his coach John Kavanagh’s new book, “Win or Learn,” McGregor talked about the ongoing dispute as to how much press the bombastic fighter will need to do.

“We’re still back-and-forth with media obligations,” McGregor said. “It’s going on right to this second. It’s never-ending. They want to pull you left and right.”

McGregor’s refusal to fly out to Las Vegas for a UFC 200 press conference and commercial shoot back in April led to a very public rift that found McGregor going as far as announcing his retirement on Twitter. The UFC responded by pulling his highly anticipated rematch with Diaz from the card. It was later revealed that McGregor wanted to focus on training and would have acquiesced to participating only in the New York stop of the promotional tour. However, the damage was already done and the UFC moved on to book the rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier into the main event spot.

Both sides have maintained that there is no bad blood and that revelation led to Diaz-McGregor 2 being booked for UFC 202 on Aug. 20. But it appears that McGregor still isn’t comfortable with the number of media requests that he’s being asked to fill and wants to focus on getting back into the cage with Diaz over anything else.

“I think some people don’t understand how taxing that is, especially coming after a loss like that where I really truly need to look out for me and get myself right and come out the way I need to feel,” McGregor said.

In his first fight with Diaz, McGregor entered as a -475 favorite over the Stockton fighter, according to Sportsbook Review. Diaz was a huge underdog considering that McGregor was the featherweight champion and Diaz had stepped in to replace his original opponent, Rafael dos Anjos, on less than two weeks notice. However, the size difference between the two ended up being a significant advantage for Diaz as he absorbed McGregor’s first round onslaught, allowed his opponent to tire and submitted the Irishman in the second frame.

The rematch finds McGregor remaining the favorite, but by not nearly as wide of a margin (-130). McGregor remains confident and suggests that he’ll “toy” with Diaz in the rematch, but he’s going to need the proper preparation and devoid of distractions.

“I can’t fatigue like that and live with myself after that,” McGregor said. “To see the way the last fight happened, I can’t live with it. I need to isolate myself and just get my work in and come back and get my revenge. And that’s what I’m doing.”

With a UFC 202 kickoff media conference scheduled for next week in Las Vegas, it will be interesting to see whether or not McGregor decides to show up.