UFC 197 just took place this past Saturday and it should have been a pretty big deal considering the two best pound-for-pound fighters were on the card. Also, it was Jon Jones' return to the octagon for the first time in well more than a year.
Part of the luster was taken off Jones' return when light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier dropped out due to injury, but Jones is typically a huge draw. All anyone really wants to talk about, though, is UFC 200 and whether Conor McGregor will be a part of that card.
Initially McGregor was on the card, as he was expected to have a rematch with Nate Diaz, but he was pulled after he failed to promote the fight. Of course there was all of the hullaballoo about McGregor's retirement after he tweeted that he was retiring young, but he is not actually hanging up the gloves. When McGregor tweeted that out about a week ago it of course received a lot of attention but, like many had suspected, it was just a way for him to grab the headlines.
The UFC would obviously love to have McGregor headline UFC 200 since he is the biggest draw in the sport right now, but at the same time president Dana White isn't going to put up with his nonsense and give him special treatment. White had left the door open for the possibility that McGregor could be put back on the card, and that's what Nate Diaz wants too. Diaz has said he won't fight at UFC 200 unless it is a fight against McGregor.
Well, on Sunday night it seemed like Diaz would get his wish as McGregor sent out another tweet saying that he was back on the card for UFC 200. The problem with that tweet was that it never received any sort of confirmation, and White has since said that "The Notorious'" tweet was not true. White said he hasn't spoken to McGregor or his manager since the press conference last week and is confused as to why he would send that tweet.
Now that the UFC is still without a headliner for its 200th pay-per-view, where does it go from here? A McGregor fight is still a possibility, although that is looking less and less likely, but another real possibility is that the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier fight could take the headlining spot. Jones is coming off a victory over Ovince Saint Preux for the interim light-heavyweight title, and his next fight will be against Cormier. Cormier says he will be healthy by UFC 200 and is open to that possibility. Of course Jones would only have about three months to recover and prepare, but he is also open to it as he did train for a Cormier fight before he eventually pulled out.
If the UFC decides to go the Jones-Cormier route and leaves McGregor off the card, it will likely be losing a lot of money. As mentioned before McGregor is the biggest draw in the sport, and if he is left off, the promotion would likely lose around $45 million.