Conor McGregor Teases Retirement On Twitter
Current UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has apparently called it a career.
The 27-year-old Irish star is set to take on Nate Diaz in the main event of this summer’s UFC 200 to avenge his first UFC loss suffered against the Stockton native at March’s UFC 196, but apparently he’s made enough ‘cheese,’ as he likes to call it, and is ready to cash out early. Check out what he had to say online:
I have decided to retire young.
Thanks for the cheese.
Catch ya’s later.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 19, 2016
McGregor was originally set to face Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title at UFC 196; however, an injury forced the Brazilian to pull out of the bout less than two weeks out from fight time. Diaz took the fight with “The Notorious” at welterweight, and would go on to defeat the Irishman with a shocking second-round submission.
Despite the loss, McGregor still enjoyed a lofty position as arguably the promotion’s biggest star with the featherweight title still being held onto by his iron grip, and he received a great amount of praise even in defeat for supposedly facing an opponent two weight classes up (even though Diaz is a lightweight).
Because of that attention, McGregor reportedly harassed UFC president Dana White for the welterweight rematch in the days following the bout, and was ultimately granted his shot at redemption in July.
McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh also threw fuel to the fire with a tweet of his own:
Well was fun while it lasted
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) April 19, 2016
MMAFighting.com‘s Ariel Helwani has also reported that multiple sources are claiming this isn’t a joke:
Multiple sources are adamant at this time that McGregor’s tweet isn’t a joke, troll job or hoax of any kind. Reason(s) behind it is unclear.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 19, 2016
And apparently, McGregor isn’t caving. Helwani updated the situation by clarifying that four hours later,”The Notorious” is still planning on hanging it up and the UFC has now reportedly moved on to other options:
Reasons still unclear, but 4 hours later, multiple sources maintaining McGregor’s tweet is real. UFC working on next step(s) at this time.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 19, 2016
Worth noting: both McGregor and Diaz were scheduled to be in Vegas this weekend to promote their rematch.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 19, 2016
The UFC has not made any official statement at this time, but it’s going to be tough to believe that a fighter with more drawing power than any other UFC athlete not named Ronda Rousey would retire at the height of his popularity.
