UFC – Conor McGregor: There’s Nothing That’s Exciting Me

Just moments after Amanda Nunes made history, by becoming the first ever UFC fighter to successfully defend two titles in two different weight classes, with her dominant win over Felicia Spencer at UFC 250, Conor McGregor took to social media to announce his retirement.

This obviously isn’t the first time McGregor has announced his retirement during negotiations with the UFC. And he follows Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal, who have also posted similar tweets in the last couple of weeks.

Speaking to ESPN‘s Ariel Helwani however, McGregor said that there are no potential opponents that excite him.

“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.

“They should have just kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Justin 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.”

McGregor continued by saying he is bored of the sport right now.

“I’m a bit bored of the game. 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, Ariel. I don’t know if it’s no crowd. I don’t know what it is. There’s just no buzz for me.”

With the world in uncertainty as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, McGregor said his plans for 2020 have gone out of the window.

“I had my goals, my plans, the season. I had everything laid out. Obviously the world has gone bleeding bonkers at the minute. There’s f*** 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 f***. I’m over it.”

After McGregor posted his top four greatest ever MMA fighters last month, Anderson Silva called out the Irishman, who was quick to accept the challenge. But ‘The Notorious’ states that this fight isn’t happening.

“There’s nothing there for me,” McGregor said. “I’m trying to get excited. I’m trying my best. And when the Anderson one came along, I was like, yeah, s***, 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, Ariel, 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.”

Now the Silva fight is out of the question, McGregor feels like there is no obvious opponent for him at the moment.

“I don’t know. It’s just crazy,” McGregor said. “I was cutting to 155 [pounds], 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 [Silva] talk. I’m just over it, man.”

Whether we see McGregor fight again this year, we will have to wait and see. But for now, the former two division UFC champion is concentrating on family time.

“My mother is out there picking out a beautiful home, an absolute beautiful home, her dream home. It would likely be her final home, my family’s final home for them, a retirement home. I’m very, very proud to do this, and that’s it.

“We’ll see what the future holds. But for right now, for the immediate future, 2020, all the best to it.”

Do you think we’ll see Conor McGregor fight again in 2020?


UPDATE:

Below we’ve added some of the online reactions to Conor McGregor’s retirement tweet. As well as Dana White’s comments at the UFC 250 post fight press conference.


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