Guess you could say he was otherwise engaged.
While Conor McGregor was busy stoking up a couple of fresh feuds backstage at Madison Square Garden on Friday evening, his closest rival for the hottest-property-in-fighting title made a long, long-awaited return to the spotlight.
There has been precious little seen and even less heard of Ronda Rousey for almost a year now, the dethroned UFC women's bantamweight champion confining herself for the most part to the shadows since her devastating destruction at the hands and legs of Holly Holm in Australia last November.
Defeat had scarred her deeply - physically and especially psychologically. There was, for a time, a growing acceptance in some quarters that she may never be seen in the octagon again. But Rousey's not done yet and she will now make her comeback in Las Vegas at year's end with a joust against the new owner of her old belt, Brazilian Amanda Nunes.
As a final flourish at Friday's raucous weigh-ins for their historic first ever card in New York City this weekend, the UFC hype team had a surprise for the well over 12,000 souls who had packed into the iconic sporting centrepiece of this city. Even if it was a month and a half premature, there would be an additional pre-fight face-off - Rousey and Nunes.
Rousey stormed into the arena, unblinking and doing her best to be intimidating...but the air of invincibility was no longer there. Nunes soon joined her and Dana White stepped in to keep the rivals separate. When MC Joe Rogan then turned to interview the reigning champion first, the challenger stormed off quicker than she'd arrived.
All in all, it was a bizarre spectacle and did little to dispel doubts as to whether Rousey is emotionally ready to return. It also left no room for argument about McGregor's position atop the fighting pyramid.
In its first foray into the Empire State, the UFC could only have turned to the Notorious one to deliver the biggest night in the organisation's history. The thousands who packed into the Garden just to watch McGregor step on to a wholly irrelevant scales - all fighters on the UFC 205 card had officially weighed in earlier that morning - were testament to that. The huge numbers among them who had crossed the Atlantic for this maiden New York outing offered further proof of his unique pulling power.
McGregor faces lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in the headline event of a star-packed Saturday night card which features three title fights in total. It seems almost every household name in the organisation's stable will be in the cage at some point or another on this historic first mixed martial arts night in Manhattan.
But no name carries as much mass as the man who is moving up in weight. McGregor is already featherweight king. Claiming lightweight gold tonight would qualify him as fighting royalty - no athlete has ever reigned over two divisions simultaneously in UFC history, this meeting of champion and champion the first in almost eight years.
"This is just another day for me. I do this every week," McGregor insisted on the stage as Irish and Irish-ish fans sent decibel levels soaring. "Tomorrow night, I'm ready to go in and do my thing for my fans and everyone who supported me, that's it. Raise double gold, I do this every week. Ireland, stand up! We're about to do it again."
Champions will meet @TheGarden! #UFC205@EAlvarezFight vs @TheNotoriousMMA
— #UFC205 (@ufc) November 11, 2016
LIVE on PPV https://t.co/R9UbDulMOn
After a week in which he delivered some of his best and too much of his worst - Thursday's press conference theatrics were just about the most tiresome yet - Friday's weigh-in was much more like it.
McGregor, looking particularly solid as he stepped on the scales at 155lb for the first time in his wild UFC run, stalked the stage and when joined by Alvarez, got up close for a staredown that was pure, intense and devoid of any histrionics.
While he retired backstage and engaged in verbal spats with both welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, Alvarez stayed up there and for the first time showed the slightest sign of blinking in the glare of the most intense spotlight he has known.
As boos and jeers rained down on the Philadelphia native, he tried to answer a question from Rogan before aborting it. "I'm going to silence all you..." he said before trailing off "God damn, you motherf***ers", and hurrying off stage.
The talking then was finally done. Tonight will only be about actions. There's likely to be plenty of those. Bookmakers favour McGregor significantly, Alvarez's long career's work not enough to convince them that the 32-year-old can cope on his biggest night yet.
When Alvarez's credentials are debated, praise is often sent his way for his ability to bounce back up off the canvass and hang tough. One problem with that though - you have to be knocked down before you get the chance to bounce back and confound. With McGregor's power having proved much too much for a string of featherweights, it's likely to be just as punishing a mere ten pounds up the ladder. Allied with his incredible ability to pierce through defences with unerring precision, Alvarez's reign faces one almighty challenge at its first hurdle.
"Someone with the precision I have... I'm going to hit him, he's going to fall," said McGregor this week. "I certainly believe in my shots, I believe I'll put him away."
McGregor's reach advantage shapes to be a factor too. It may be just five inches but given Alvarez's undoubted superiority on the ground, finding a safe range early and staying clear of gifting takedowns to the 32-year-old would put McGregor in a very good position to deliver on another of his promises - an early finish. As is so often the case on Notorious fight nights, the opening moments will likely tell a lot.
"I look forward to when the eyes shift, when the eyes roll," McGregor has said. "And the electric shock goes through his whole body and he goes to his knees and then he comes up and he's in survival mode and that panic sets through his whole body. That's something that I look forward to."
No venue has hosted more iconic names in fighting history than Madison Square Garden. In his first visit here, McGregor has said that 'immortality' - and a place alongside those greats - is on the line.
The Empire State's wait is about to be over.
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