UFC Champ Conor McGregor Announces Retirement For The Third Time

UFC star Conor McGregor is walking away from the sport. On Sunday morning – just after the conclusion of UFC 250 – McGregor tweeted a pic of himself hugging his mom in Las Vegas after one of his World title wins, and he said that he has decided to retire from fighting.

A few hours later, McGregor told ESPN that the game just doesn’t excite him anymore.

Hey guys I’ve decided to retire from fighting.
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 pic.twitter.com/Dh4ijsZacZ

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 7, 2020

“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,” said McGregor, who added that the UFC should have “kept the ball rolling.”

McGregor questioned why they pushed the Khabib Nurmagomedov/Justin Gaethje fight back to September, and then shared his opinion that the fight won’t happen because something else will happen and they will postpone the match again.

“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,” said McGregor.

The 31-year-old also revealed that he wrote a draft of his retirement two weeks ago because he was “just tired” of the sport. He says that he is bored with the game, and he can honestly say that after watching the Tyron Woodley/Gilbert Burns fight.

McGregor isn’t sure if the lack of a crowd at the UFC fights due to the COVID-19 pandemic is influencing how he feels, but at the moment there’s “just no buzz” for the fighter.

However, his UFC career might not be over yet. The former featherweight and lightweight champ has announced his retirement on Twitter before, but it didn’t stick. Conor McGregor retired in March 2016 when he didn’t want to travel to the United States for a press conference about his rematch with Nate Diaz.

I spoke to Conor McGregor late last night following his tweet heard round the world.

“The game just does not excite me and that's that,” he said in an exclusive interview.

Much more here: https://t.co/uB0zjowx6N

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 7, 2020

He eventually fought Diaz and defeated him in August 2016, but McGregor retired again in April 2019 while he was in the middle of negotiations with the UFC. However, he did return in January 2020 to fight Donald Cerrone and defeat him in just 40 seconds. Before that match, McGregor said he would fight three times in 2020, but the coronavirus changed his plans.

“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 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.”

source https://celebrityinsider.org/ufc-champ-conor-mcgregor-announces-retirement-for-the-third-time-404261/