Conor McGregor Explains Retirement, Says Nothing in UFC Excites Him, Discusses Anderson Silva Fight, More

Conor McGregor talked to ESPN following his announcement that he’s retiring from MMA. In the interview, McGregor discussed why he decided to retire, how he feels like UFC has no buzz right now, why he lost interest in the Anderson Silva fight, and more. Highlights are below.

On how UFC doesn’t excite him right now: “The game just does not excite me, and that’s that. All this waiting around. There’s nothing happening. I’m going through opponent options, and there’s nothing really there at the minute. There’s nothing that’s exciting me.”

On how UFC didn’t keep the ball rolling: “They should have just kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje] back to September? 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.”

On how maybe the lack of crowds is contributing to him not getting any buzz from watching UFC shows: “I’m a bit bored of the game. I’m here watching the fight. I watched the last show — the [Tyron-Woodley-Gilbert Burns] show — I watched the show tonight. I’m just not excited about the game, Ariel. I don’t know if it’s no crowd. I don’t know what it is. There’s just no buzz for me.”

On how the pandemic changed his plans: “I had my goals, my plans, the season. I had everything laid out. Obviously the world has gone bleeding bonkers at the minute. There’s f— all happening at the minute. They want to throw me up and down weights and offer me stupid fights. I don’t really give a f—. I’m over it.”

On how he was excited about the Anderson Silva fight before he realized that people would write off his win by saying Silva is over the hill: “There’s nothing there for me. I’m trying to get excited. I’m trying my best. And when the Anderson one came along, I was like, yeah, s—, that’s a mad fight. And then everyone said he’s old and over the hill. I was, like, ‘What? Fighting a former light heavyweight and the middleweight GOAT, and the actual GOAT in my eyes, that’s not a rewardable fight?’ And you know, you’re actually right. It wouldn’t be rewarded. I would go in there and put him away, Ariel, and then what would happen? They’d say he’s old and he’s over the hill and he’s past his prime and all.”

McGregor has, of course, retired twice before, once in March 2016 and then again in April 2019. He obviously ended up returning to MMA both times. It remains to be seen if this latest retirement will stick.