LAS VEGAS — Conor McGregor had the chance to blast Jon Jones for the potential doping violation that cost him a spot on UFC 200’s main card.
The Notorious, unlike Brock Lesnar, didn’t take it, though.
“I could sit up here and say, ‘Well, well, well,’ ” McGregor said Thursday in his UFC 202 pre-fight press conference at T-Mobile Arena. “But I am a successful human being, and successful human beings do not celebrate in the adversity or misfortune of others. So, you know, I wish Jon well. I wish everyone backstage well — I know they’re running around like headless chickens trying to get everything together.”
McGregor, for those who don’t remember, also was scheduled to fight Saturday night at UFC 200, but his refusal to participate in a pre-fight presser — like the one he gave Thursday — led the fight promotion to kick him out of the proceedings.
McGregor now realizes he messed up, and he delivered that message with an interesting mix of contriteness and bravado.
“What I would’ve done differently would be is to communicate it a little bit better,” said McGregor, who revealed that his camp just wanted to focus on training, not media appearances, ahead of the fight. “I messed up the way I communicated it. I think if I would’ve reached out and said it the way I should’ve said it — and man-to-man, not in public — it would’ve played a little bit better. I feel like I played it a bit wrong, but they (the UFC) also played it wrong.”
McGregor believed his incredible 2015 gave him “a little leeway” with the UFC, but that wasn’t the case.
“I have to understand that I didn’t communicate my point well, and that was it,” he said. “It is what it is. It’s in the past.”
McGregor’s future includes his UFC 202 meeting with Nate Diaz on Aug. 20, at the very arena he spoke in Thursday. Diaz defeated McGregor in their first meeting at UFC 196, although The Notorious has different plans for their second showdown.
“This time, I’m prepared for a tall, lanky, ugly Mexican southpaw,” he said.
