UFC: Conor McGregor doubles down on retirement talk, saying ‘the game just does not excite me’

‘Notorious’ posts photo of retirement cake and vents about the ‘pushing’ of Khabib vs Gaethje back to September

McGregor’s head coach Kavanagh hints at a return from retirement with NBA legend Jordan comparison

Reading Time:2 minutes

Conor McGregor celebrates his win against Donald Cerrone at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas in January. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:00pm, 8 Jun 2020Updated: 6:00pm, 8 Jun 2020

Conor McGregor has doubled down on his claims he has retired from the sport of MMA, citing frustrations in “waiting around” and booking fights with the UFC.

“Notorious” McGregor (22-4), who announced his retirement from the sport for the third time after UFC 250 on the weekend, posted a photo on social media of a cake saying “happy retirement daddy”. The cake message was presumably meant to be from three-year-old son Conor Jnr.

This is the third time McGregor has announced his retirement. The 31-year-old Irishman last fought in a successful first-round TKO against Donald Cerrone in January.

McGregor highlighted frustrations and uncertainties in booking fights during the global Covid-19 pandemic, telling ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Friday: “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 to me.”

“They should have kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib 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 … They should have just done the fight – me and Justin for the interim title – and just kept the ball rolling.