Conor McGregor: Digesting His Supposed Retirement From the Sport

*AN: As of writing this column, all that’s been put out by McGregor is that he’s going to retire young on Twitter.  UFC has removed McGregor from the UFC 200 main event for apparently not reporting to press activities for the event.*

On Tuesday, April 19, the MMA community went into meltdown. Reigning UFC featherweight champion and one of the sport’s top stars in Conor McGregor proclaimed on his Twitter account that he would be retiring young. In short order, all hell broke loose. UFC President Dana White appeared on ESPN SportsCenter and declared that Conor McGregor was removed from his scheduled main event rematch at UFC 200 against Nate Diaz. Speculation became rampant on what exactly happened to McGregor and what led to this.

I have decided to retire young.
Thanks for the cheese.
Catch ya's later.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 19, 2016

All we really know is that McGregor has claimed he decided to retire and is leaving the sport. The UFC has opted to remove McGregor from the main event of UFC 200, a huge blow to what UFC was gearing up for one of the promotion’s biggest events of all time. The official statement from the UFC is that McGregor was removed from the event because he refused to report for scheduled press activities to promote the event. McGregor’s coach and trainer, John Kavanagh wasn’t much help either on getting some answers. His tweet was equally vague and cryptic, which you can also see below.

Well was fun while it lasted

— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) April 19, 2016

On a personal level, it’s hard to believe the statement that McGregor was removed from the event because McGregor refused to report for press events. That sounds like a bit of a public damage control statement. Now, maybe McGregor did actually refuse to report to his press obligations. The UFC has punished fighters before when they didn’t fulfill media obligations. Nick Diaz was outright removed from his title fight against Georges St-Pierre when he no-showed some press conferences. But then GSP got injured anyway, and Diaz was then re-booked into a main event against BJ Penn. However, to UFC to take such a drastic step in removing McGregor from the actual event just because he didn’t fulfill some apparent press obligations just sounds extreme. It sounds like there is a lot more to the story that isn’t being made public yet. Dana White commented that only McGregor knows if he’s retired.

Ultimately, I don’t want to speculate too much. There is already a lot of speculation from what happened here to this being over a pay dispute between McGregor and the UFC to this being McGregor’s reaction to the death of MMA fighter Joao Carvalho in Ireland. However, I will say, I’m not unhappy this match fell apart at all. I didn’t really like Diaz vs. McGregor when it was booked the first time at UFC 196. As a replacement bout, it was understandable why it was booked, but I just thought it was a pointless fight to make. Yes, the fight was a huge success and pulled in a huge buyrate. But now you are in a situation where McGregor was soundly finished by Diaz and is claiming he’s retiring from the sport. The featherweight division is in purgatory because McGregor is the champion, but he probably can’t make 145 pounds anymore and actually defend the belt.

My gut tells me that McGregor isn’t gone for good. Maybe he’s having a bit of a mood. Maybe there is some sort of dispute with UFC management. But I doubt McGregor truly leaves the sport for good and forever. Retirements are pretty meaningless in this sport, even when it seems a fighter can finally get a classy exit. Nick Diaz has retired about half a dozen times at this point. Maybe McGregor lost something from that recent loss to Diaz that he can’t get back, even though it wasn’t the first time he actually lost in his MMA career. Maybe he feels to be in a tough spot because he’s champion of a weight class he can’t safely cut down to at this point. In addition, his big opportunity to fight for the lightweight title against Rafael dos Anjos has come and gone.

On an emotional level, I’m not quite ready to eulogize McGregor’s career. At least, I’m not ready to do so until more information on exactly what happened comes out. The true story might never be told, but more sides need to come to light between McGregor and the UFC. This is still an unfolding situation, so until I know more, I’m not ready to reflect on the end of McGregor’s career.

Jeffrey Harris is 411mania’s resident Jack of All Trades and has covered MMA for the site since 2008. You can shoot him an e-mail at [email protected] or hit him up on Facebook. You can also check out the latest edition of the podcast he co-hosts alongside Robert Winfree, The 411 Ground & Pound Radio Show, below.