Conor McGregor has spoken for the first time since he tweeted his retirement at the conclusion of UFC 250 on Saturday night, and took aim at the UFC for not booking him in an appropriate fight.
Speaking to ESPN following his announcement, McGregor cited a number of factors behind his decision – including his frustration at the UFC’s apparent unwillingness to book him in fights against interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje and former middleweight champion Anderson Silva – as he declared himself “bored” of the fight game.
“The game just does not excite me, and that’s that,” McGregor said. “All this waiting around. There’s nothing happening. I’m going through opponent options and there’s nothing really there at the minute. There’s nothing that’s exciting me.”
McGregor was particularly keen to re-insert himself into the lightweight title picture and targeted a fight with newly-crowned interim champion Justin Gaethje as the ideal next assignment. But the Irishman said the UFC wasn’t sold on his ideas.
“They should have just kept the ball rolling,” he stated. “I mean, why are they pushing [Nurmagomedov vs. Gaethje] back to September? You know what’s going to happen in September? Something else is going to happen in September, and that’s not going to happen. I laid out a plan and a method that was the right move, the right methods to go with, and they always want to balk at that and not make it happen or just drag it on. Whatever I say, they want to go against it to show some kind of power. They should have just done the fight – me and Justin for the interim title – and just kept the ball rolling.”
With the Gaethje fight seemingly out of reach, McGregor responded positively to a social media challenge from former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. But, despite McGregor tweeting his acceptance of “The Spider’s” fight offer, the UFC seemingly wasn’t so keen. McGregor said it left him without an exciting option and lacking in motivation.
“There’s nothing there for me,” he continued. “I’m trying to get excited. I’m trying my best. And when the Anderson one came along, I was like, ‘Yeah, (expletive), that’s a mad fight!’ And then everyone said he’s old and over the hill. I was, like, ‘What? Fighting a former light heavyweight and the middleweight GOAT, and the actual GOAT in my eyes, that’s not a rewardable fight?’ And you know, you’re actually right. It wouldn’t be rewarded. I would go in there and put him away, and then what would happen? They’d say he’s old and he’s over the hill and he’s past his prime and all.”
McGregor’s last fight saw him demolish Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds in a welterweight bout at UFC 246 in January. Following that win, it seemed all options were open for the Dubliner at both 170 and 155 pounds. But, without a clear direction agreed between McGregor and the UFC, the former two-weight champion says his options now look limited, and not enticing enough for him to step back into the cage.
“I don’t know. It’s just crazy,” McGregor said. “I was cutting to 155, and then because I asked for 155, they wanted to show power and stomp all over me. I don’t know why they do this. But it was taken from me and then pushed back. So then I’m thinking I don’t want to be cutting if I’m fighting at 170. I have to be careful here. My body has to be correct to the weight. And then the 176 talk (for a potential fight with Silva). I’m just over it, man.”
McGregor’s experience of watching the UFC’s behind-closed-doors events on TV hasn’t inspired him, either.
“I’m a bit bored of the game,” he admitted. “I’m here watching the fight. I watched the last show – the Woodley-Burns show – I watched the show tonight. I’m just not excited about the game. I don’t know if it’s (because there’s) no crowd. I don’t know what it is. There’s just no buzz for me.”
It’s a far cry from the start of the year, when McGregor eagerly announced the launch of his “2020 season,” then defeated Cerrone in spectacular fashion to build the excitement about what might be around the corner. More recently he sparked conversation across the MMA world with his personal MMA GOAT rankings, vowing that his place at the top of that list would be “fully secured by career end. And easily.”
But now, according to McGregor, what’s next isn’t a new fight – it’s retirement.
“I had my goals, my plans, the season. I had everything laid out,” McGregor said. “Obviously the world has gone bleeding bonkers at the minute. There’s (expletive) all happening at the minute. They want to throw me up and down weights and offer me stupid fights. I don’t really give a (expletive). I’m over it.
“We’ll see what the future holds. But for right now, for the immediate future, 2020, all the best to it.”
Conor McGregor opens up on retirement talk: 'The game just does not excite me'
