Cain Velasquez doesn't blame UFC for pulling Conor McGregor

Former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez thinks that if every other fighter on UFC 200 can show up for media obligations, Conor McGregor should be able to as well.

Velasquez met with the media earlier this week to discuss his upcoming fight with Travis Browne at UFC 200, and he also dished his opinion on the McGregor's ongoing saga with the UFC concerning media obligations.

"I'm doing it, everybody else is doing it," Velasquez said. "Can I see his side? No, not really. I'm doing it. Everybody else is doing it. If he had to do way more than what we had to do, OK then, yes. I could definitely see that. But if he's not, if he's doing the same thing, then no. We're all doing it."

McGregor was supposed to appear at last Friday's UFC 200 press conference with the other big stars of the epic event. However, the featherweight champion, after claiming he was retiring, said he was refusing to show because doing press hurt his preparation for his first fight with Diaz and he wanted to prevent that from happening again.

The UFC then pulled McGregor from the card standing firm on its stance that doing press is part of the job, with UFC president Dana White pointing out that fighters like Jose Aldo, Amanda Nunes and Joanna Jedrzejczyk came from all over the world to attend the presser and participate in the three-city tour.

"I feel that we all do have obligations to do this kind of stuff," Velasquez said. "I'm a guy that hates doing this. When I first started to fight, I thought it was just training and fighting and that was it. 'OK, you've gotta do interviews.' ... Doing it now, yeah I'm kind of comfortable with doing it. I can do it pretty easily, I feel like. I feel like it is part of the job. You've gotta do this and train and fight."

But as comfortable as Velasquez feels with doing interviews and press tours after a long reign as heavyweight champion, he does admit that things can get a bit overwhelming. And when they do, the UFC has done a good job of letting him take a step back.

"I guess it all depends on what you can handle," Velasquez said. "Some people can do this kind of stuff all day, some people can't. I understand that. You just talk to whoever is with you. The PR people from the UFC are great. We just talk to them and say, 'Hey, this is too much.'"

It appears that's what McGregor was trying to tell the UFC. However, it probably preferred more than a couple days notice.