McGregor bids fans familiar farewell

Irish superstar announces retirement from UFC for third time－but still leaves door open for another about-turn

Conor McGregor is quitting the Octagon. Again.

Minutes after Amanda Nunes defended her featherweight crown with a unanimous decision over Felicia Spencer at UFC 250 in Las Vegas on Saturday night, the Irish superstar announced his retirement on Twitter.

"Hey guys I've decided to retire from fighting," McGregor tweeted. "Thank you all for the amazing memories! What a ride it's been!"

This marks the third time in four years the 31-year-old has used social media to announce his "retirement", only to do a quick about-face.

In 2016, during a spat with UFC over the promotion of his rematch with Nate Diaz, McGregor famously tweeted: "I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya's later."

In 2019 he did it again, in what UFC president Dana White said was an attempt to gain an ownership stake in the company.

White is taking McGregor's latest announcement in his stride.

"That's Conor. You know how Conor works. That's how he does things," White told Associated Press, adding he thinks the current state of the world, with the coronavirus pandemic still raging and massive protests against racism and police brutality taking place, played a role.

"If guys want to sit out and retire right now or anybody feels uncomfortable in any way, shape or form with what's going on, they don't have to fight. It is all good," White said.

"If that's what Conor's feeling right now, I get it. It's not like I'm going, 'Holy***t, this is crazy. This is nuts.' Nothing is crazy and nuts right now because everything is crazy and nuts right now. So, on a certain level, I totally understand it and get it."

Since his 40-second KO of Donald Cerrone at UFC 249 in January, McGregor had been very vocal about wanting a rematch with lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and just last month he accepted a challenge from former middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

But on Sunday, McGregor told ESPN he has lost his excitement for the sport.

"The game just doesn't excite me, and that's that," he said. "All the waiting around. There's nothing happening. I'm going through opponent options and there's nothing there.

"I'm a bit bored of the game, to be honest. I'm here watching the show and it's just not exciting. I don't know if it's because of no crowd; there's just no buzz in it for me."

If this retirement is for real, McGregor will finish his career with an overall record of 22-4－and the singular honor of being part of the richest match in combat sports history, a stoppage loss to undefeated pro boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2017. McGregor earned $130 million for that fight, while Mayweather pocketed an estimated $270 million.

But once again, McGregor is leaving the door open for a return in the future.

"We'll see what the future holds. But for right now, for the immediate future, 2020, all the best to it."

Meanwhile, Jorge Masvidal, the No 1 contender for welterweight champion Kamaru Usman's title, has joined light heavyweight champ Jon Jones in using social media to demand his release after complaining that UFC is not paying them enough.

White responded on the weekend, saying: "Anybody that doesn't want to fight doesn't have to fight, including Masvidal and Jones."

The UFC president also noted the company is set to lose more than $100 million in 2020 because it is unable to have spectators at events, thus negating any money from ticket sales.

"I think everybody wants more money," White said at the weigh-in for UFC 250.

"Masvidal says, 'You've got enough money to buy islands.' Let me repeat for the ******* billionth time: I did not buy an island, OK? We did not buy an island.

"The reason we're doing 'Fight Island' is so that fights can go on and these kids from Europe and the rest of the world can make money and can work.

"I think a lot of people are really frustrated and confused about the situation right now."

White said that because UFC fighters are independent contractors, they have the option to accept a fight or not.

"It doesn't have to be because of the pandemic. These guys are independent contractors. This isn't like the NFL where I can make you come to practice and you do this or you're going to get fined or you're going to get this. These guys can do whatever they want," he said.