Given the history between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, it was little surprise that Wednesday’s press conference to promote their fight at UFC 202 descended into unedifying chaos - once the Irishman had bothered to turn up.
McGregor was 30 minutes late for the press conference in Vegas, but didn’t seem too repentant when he arrived. “The Vegas traffic is heavy this time of the day,” he joked. “There must be a McGregor show going on because the place is packed out.”
Things just got real between Diaz and McGregor at the UFC 202 press conference. pic.twitter.com/cxD8yYBl4W
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) August 17, 2016
McGregor’s tardiness appeared to irk the UFC president, Dana White, but it was Diaz who was most angry: the Californian walked out shouting at his opponent as he went.
“Hey, fuck your whole team, how about that?” shouted Diaz.
“Fuck your whole team,” McGregor replied. “You’ll do nothing. Shut your fucking mouth. You’ll do nothing. You’ll do fucking nothing. Not one of you will do nothing. Get the fuck out of here.” Diaz appeared to throw a water bottle at the Irishman, with McGregor throwing some in return.
UFC was recently sold for $4bn and the spectacle was hardly the image an organization moving further into the mainstream may want to present - although it will no doubt bring publicity to an event that has been overshadowed by this month’s Olympics. White, for his part, had had enough. “That’s a wrap. Get them out of here,” he said.
McGregor has previously clashed with UFC over media coverage and promotion. Earlier this year, he announced he would retire after becoming angry at what he saw as excessive demands on his time around fight promotion. He has since been decided to return.
Diaz beat McGregor in a non-title fight at UFC 196 in March. The pair clashed before that fight too with security forced to break up trouble at a press conference.
