Conor McGregor will not be fighting at UFC 200 after Daniel Cormier against Jon Jones was announced as the new headline bout for the 9 July event.
Featherweight champion McGregor had been slated to fight Nate Diaz in a rematch of his welterweight defeat last month but was pulled from the card after refusing to attending a press conference in Las Vegas last week.
THE main event for #UFC200: @DC_MMA vs @JonnyBones II
— UFC (@ufc) April 27, 2016
Here. We. Go. 👊https://t.co/vvnbpPFA24
McGregor suggested he would be happy to fight if promotional duties were reduced, and then claimed on Monday that it had been agreed that the fight would go ahead.
That was contradicted by UFC President Dana White, who said "We haven’t talked [to] Conor or his manager since the press conference. I don’t know why he would tweet that".
Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200!
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 25, 2016
Shout out to @danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting this one done for the fans. #Respect
The mind games and haggling appear to have reached at least a temporary conclusion, however, with the announcement today that a light heavyweight championship fight between title holder Cormier and former champion Jones, also interim belt-holder and pound-for-pound number one, will now headline the event.
Jones previously beat Cormier in a unanimous decision at UFC 185 before losing his title after being involved in a hit-and-run incident. Cormier won the vacant belt by beating Anthony Johnson and defended it against Alexander Gustaffson.
On the same card, Jose Aldo will fight for the first time since his 13-second knockout defeat to McGregor at UFC 194 last December.
Aldo faces featherweight number two contender Frankie Edgar for the interim belt and the opportunity to face McGregor in what is expected to be the Irishman's next fight.
