Conor McGregor announced his retirement from the UFC on Saturday night. This proclamation was his third retirement in four years. One day later, he enjoyed the retired life while riding a neon jet ski off the coast of Dalkey in Dublin. He was reportedly circling an expensive yacht without a care in the world.
The Irishman originally announced his retirement after watching UFC 250. He tweeted out the news while reflecting on his ride and his world title wins. He later spoke with ESPN and revealed that he wrote a draft of his retirement weeks earlier. However, he waited until he watched the two most recent UFC events and realized that nothing “excited him.”
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“The game just does not excite me, and that’s that. All this waiting around. There’s nothing happening. I am going through opponent, options, and there’s nothing really there, at the minute. There’s nothing exciting,” McGregor said to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.
“They should have just kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje] back to September?” McGregor continued. “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.”
While McGregor has not fought as frequently in recent years, he remains one of the UFC’s biggest stars. He only has two UFC losses in his 22-4 career, one to Khabib Nurmagomedov and one against Nate Diaz. McGregor also became the first UFC fighter to hold titles in two weight classes at the same time. He knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to secure the featherweight title in UFC 194. He followed that up by knocking out Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight belt at UFC 205.
Whether or not he remains retired is unknown, but UFC President Dana White believes that McGregor should be out jet skiing and spending time with his family. He said that the now-retired fighter has a “ton of money” and that Proper 12 Irish Whiskey is bringing in a ton of money. Additionally, White said that anyone thinking about retiring should just go ahead and retire.
