Conor McGregor, who is considered the biggest star in UFC history, posted on Twitter late Saturday night that he’s retiring from the Octagon.
The announcement, which came after Amanda Nunes’ impressive flyweight title defense in UFC 250, came as a surprise, but already some believe it’s insincere and could be more of a publicity stunt. Retirements are often used as a bargaining tool in combat sports.
The 31-year-old McGregor, who has a 22-4 record in mixed martial arts, fought as recently as Jan. 18 when he scored a first-round TKO victory over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in UFC 246.
“Hey guys I’ve decided to retire from fighting,” McGregor tweeted. “Thank you all for the amazing memories! What a ride it’s been!”
The scepticism from this retirement announcement comes from the fact that the controversial fighter has made this dubious declaration before. It’s now the third time in four years the former two-division champion has announced his retirement. He also said he was done with fighting in 2016 and 2019, only to return.
McGregor recently hasn’t sounded like a fighter ready to call it quits. On May 28, he posted on Twitter that he would accept a fight with Anderson Silva, another UFC legend. According to ESPN, this summer McGregor was once tied to a potential fight with current top lightweight contender Justin Gaethje, and there also had been speculation of a trilogy bout, tiebreaker bout against Nate Diaz.
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