Dana White says there’s no deal in place for Conor McGregor return to UFC 200

Conor McGregor tweeted Monday that he has returned to the UFC 200 card, but company President Dana White responded shortly after no such deal has been struck.

“Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200! Shout out to@danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting this one done for the ones. #Respect,” McGregor wrote on his @TheNotoriousMMA Twitter account.

But White told the Los Angeles Times in a text message that a deal for a return is “not true. We haven’t talked [to] Conor or his manager since the press conference. I don’t know why he would tweet that.”

At the UFC 200 news conference Friday, White announced he will assign Diaz a new opponent, but the rebellious Diaz objected, saying he wanted to fight McGregor. No one else.

McGregor, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s featherweight champion, was pulled from his UFC 200 main-event welterweight rematch against Stockton’s Nate Diaz last week for declining to participate in a UFC 200 news conference in Las Vegas on Friday.

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Promotional filming and marketing work was also needed from McGregor, who opted to remain in training in Iceland and posted an extended statement on his Facebook page that training trumped promotion.

He said he made the company $400 million in eight months and deserved a break after losing to Diaz by second-round submission in March and thinking about the time wasted hyping the fight when he should’ve been training.

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