Conor McGregor Could Join WWE After MMA Retirement

Could Conor McGregor be making the transition to WWE? Many fans think so after he suddenly announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“Hey guys quick announcement, I’ve decided to retire from the sport formally known as ‘Mixed Martial Art’ today,” McGregor said in a tweet. “I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition. I now join my former partners on this venture, already in retirement.”

Speculations over McGregor’s future are running rampant on Tuesday, as many wonder if he’ll swap MMA for wrestling.

WWE wrestler Finn Bálor seemed to invite his fellow Irishman to WrestleMania.

“See you at ‘mania brother,” Bálor wrote in response to McGregor’s tweet.

While the words could just be a tonge-in-cheek remark, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to see McGregor involved with WWE; the wrestling association has precedents for targeting high-profile athletes from other sports.

For example, it recently swiped former UFC star Ronda Rousey, who will become one of the first women to headline WrestleMania on April 7.

WWE fans are also wondering if newly retired New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will enter the ring anytime soon. The three-time Super Bowl winner announced his retirement on Sunday.

It’s not the first time McGregor has announced his retirement. In 2016, he tweeted, “I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya’s later.” A month later, McGregor was back in the octagon.

Hours before making the announcement, the former UFC champion appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he implied he had another fight in the works.

“My next fight, we’re in talks for July. We’ll see what happens. A lot of politics going on. The fight game is a mad game but as I said again, to my fans I am in shape and I am ready,” he told host Jimmy Fallon.

But he also implied that he doesn’t need to fight in order to maintain his successful career, which includes his newly-launched Proper No. Twelve whiskey.

“I am set for life, my family is set for life,” he said. “I’ve done a lot, I’ve fought a lot. I’ve never pulled out of contests. I’ve gone through some crazy injuries, some crazy external situations that many a man would sprint for the hills if it happened to them.

“But I stood firm [and] done my piece for the company. Like I said, this whiskey is my baby. I have a lot of great entities. I don’t necessarily need to fight.”

UFC president Dana White told ESPN‘s Brett Okamoto that it “totally makes sense” that McGregor would retire.

“He has the money to retire and his whiskey is killing it,” White said via text message. “It totally makes sense.”

“If I was him I would retire too. He’s retiring from fighting. Not from working. The Whiskey will keep him busy and I’m sure he has other things he’s working on,” White said.