Conor McGregor’s coach still ’51 percent optimistic’ about UFC 200

So, you’re saying there’s a chance?

Conor McGregor’s coach is still holding out hope that McGregor will compete at UFC 200 against Nate Diaz.

“I’m 51 percent optimistic and 49 percent pessimistic, if you want to know my feelings on it,” John Kavanagh told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

The latest in the McGregor-UFC saga is messy. On Sunday night, McGregor tweeted that he was back on the card at UFC 200 and thanked UFC president Dana White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta for doing what was right for the fans. But Monday morning, White told the Los Angeles Times and TMZ that the fight was still off and McGregor’s tweet was “not true.”

Kavanagh said he and McGregor separated early Monday morning as the two left Iceland to head home to Ireland. So, he isn’t sure what has transpired — if anything — between the two sides over the last few hours. Kavanagh, though, doesn’t understand why the UFC doesn’t just let McGregor fight. The coach said the UFC just seems to be “standing for a point.”

“At some stage you’ve gotta see that maybe it’s pointless to upset so many fans that want to see this fight and ignore the kind of numbers that are gonna be brought in,” Kavanagh said.

The premise of this standoff is this: The UFC wanted McGregor to fly to Las Vegas last week to promote the fight with Diaz. There were also stops in Stockton, Calif., and New York on the media tour. McGregor said no, that he was in the middle of training to get revenge on Diaz, who beat …

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