No stranger to “announcing” his retirement on Twitter, Conor McGregor has done it again.
Shortly after the conclusion of UFC 250 on Saturday night, McGregor announced that he’s “decided to retire from fighting.”
“Hey guys I’ve decided to retire from fighting,” McGregor wrote in a caption above a picture of him with his mother. “Thank you all for the amazing memories! What a ride it’s been! Here is a picture of myself and my mother in Las Vegas post one of my World title wins! Pick the home of your dreams Mags I love you! Whatever you desire it’s yours”
When asked about McGregor’s surprise tweet, UFC president Dana White seemed to chalk it up to stir craziness during the global coronavirus pandemic and other current events.
“I’ll remind everybody that we’re in a pandemic. The world is a crazy place right now with all these things that are going on,” White said at the UFC 250 post-fight news conference. “I think that everybody feels this right now. There’s no fans. We can’t travel the fights around. I think everybody is pissed off, confused, been locked up in their houses for three-and-a-half months. People are wearing masks. There’s protests. There’s riots. The list goes on and on.
“If you don’t think what I’m doing right now is probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, and you don’t think three times a day I throw my (expletive) hands up and I’m ready to say, ‘(Expletive) this (expletive).’ The amount of people I have gunning at me right now is insane.”
Randomly announcing his retirement on Twitter is nothing new for McGregor. When UFC contract negotiations ran amuck in 2019, McGregor posted a similar message. In April 2016, McGregor announced his retirement in the now-infamous “thanks for the cheese” tweet.
McGregor, 31, has been designated by UFC president Dana White as the likely next challenger for the winner of the upcoming lightweight championship bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje.
Only time will tell if McGregor actually means what he wrote. The former UFC double champion has not competed since UFC 246 in January when he defeated Donald Cerrone by first-round TKO.
McGregor joins a notable list of UFC fighters who have either retired, threatened to retire, or spoken out about failed negotiations. The promotion is currently in the midst of public back-and-forths with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and “BMF” titleholder Jorge Masvidal. Last month, bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo retired after defending his belt and later vacated.
Here we go again: Conor McGregor has 'decided to retire from fighting'
