Thread: Notorious shock announcement: Conor McGregor out of UFC 200

THE UFC has reacted to Conor McGregor’s retirement announcment by pulling him from the biggest card of the year.

McGregor shocked the world by announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts on Wednesday morning.

“I have decided to retire young,” the UFC superstar tweeted. “Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya’s later.”

Of course, McGregor didn’t specify exactly what he was retiring from, but his tweet was followed a couple of hours later by this from his coach John Kavanagh: “Well was fun while it lasted.”

McGregor (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) is the biggest star in the sport, just 27 years old and headed for a huge money rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 200 in July, so naturally this surprise news has drawn a lot of scepticism.

But MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani — who is one of the most connected journalists in the sport — has confirmed it’s no bluff. “Multiple sources are adamant at this time that McGregor’s tweet isn’t a joke, troll job or hoax of any kind. Reason(s) behind it is unclear.”

The key phrase in Helwani’s tweet is “at this time”. There’s a perception McGregor is simply sending a message to the UFC hierarchy — perhaps over pay — and will backtrack when his demands are met.

“There have long been rumors in MMA circles about friction between McGregor and the UFC, but both sides have thus far denied it,” Yahoo! Sport’s Kevin Iole wrote. “The UFC has officially announced the UFC 200 bout, and McGregor has signed for the bout. He can’t be forced to fight if he doesn’t want to, so he is within his rights to retire. But if this is some kind of a ploy for more money, he lost some leverage by signing his name on the contract.”

ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto also believes McGregor is serious about calling it quits — at least in the short-term. “Info I’m gathering has me really believing McGregor won’t fight at UFC 200,” he tweeted.

The news blindsided the UFC universe because it was less than 24 hours ago the featherweight champion — whose undefeated run in the UFC came to an end at the hands of Diaz earlier this year — was all smiles as he arrived in Iceland to train.

DID FIGHTER’S DEATH PERMANENTLY SCAR CHAMP?

The only known upset McGregor has faced recently is his cageside presence at the fatal bout between teammate Charlie Ward and Joao Carvalho, which saw Carvalho die in hospital after a brutal TKO loss. McGregor led tributes to Carvalho after the tragedy.
“To see a young man doing what he loves, competing for a chance at a better life, and then to have it taken away is truly heartbreaking,” McGregor wrote on Facebook. “We are just men and women doing something we love in the hope of a better life for ourselves and our families. Nobody involved in combat sports of any kind wants to see this. It is such a rare occurrence that I don’t know how to take this.”

Long-time UFC commentator Joe Rogan was in the middle of recording his podcast when the news broke. His initial reaction was McGregor was trolling — unless he’d been truly rocked by Carvalho’s death.

“He’s decided to retire young ... which means like 34,” Rogan said. “Listen man, unless he got f***ing head kicked today and knocked into oblivion, the idea he’s going to go out on a loss like that to Nate Diaz ...

“Look he’s got plenty of cash. If he wanted to retire young and step away — I guarantee you he probably made somewhere in the neighbourhood of $5 million for the Jose Aldo fight and probably made more than that for the Nate Diaz fight — I’d imagine after he spent a f***load of it, he’s still got a few million bucks laying around.
“He’s a hero in Ireland. He could always make money, run a gym and be fine. But this doesn’t make any sense.”

McGregor’s retirement tweet sparked a number of offbeat conspiracy theories — including that he’s headed to the WWE.

Crickey, my flabber is a bit ghasted over this one.

No real loss. Plenty of new talent arriving in the octagon every year.

And I'd happily settle for less arrogant talent.

Didn't he get wiped out in his last fight?

Originally Posted by Baas Babelaas

Didn't he get wiped out in his last fight?

Yep. Got submitted by Diaz.

Good riddance to the arrogant loser.

Who's Connor Mcgregor ? And who watches UFC ?

Originally Posted by bobo746

Who's Connor Mcgregor ? And who watches UFC ?

Trump supporters?

I think one of the qualifications is not being very bright.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

McGregor shocked the world by announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts on Wednesday morning.

In a very small and deluded world perhaps.

Originally Posted by bobo746

Who's Connor Mcgregor ? And who watches UFC ?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I think one of the qualifications is not being very bright.

See I told you so.

I watched that fight and although McGregor hit Diaz with his best shots he just simply was not big and strong enough to take him out.

When it went to the ground McGregor was lost and lost.

I just think his ego was too big and he realized his body wasn't big enough to match the bigger boys.

And his fragile ego got obliterated in the fight, so he did the (dis)honourable deed of retiring before getting hammered to bit and pieces again (and again and again),

From McGregor's FB page:

[QUOTE][I am just trying to do my job and fight here.
I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote.
I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting.
There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop.
50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photo shoots, and at the end of it all I'm left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation. And the many distractions that led to this.
Nothing else was going through my mind.
It is time to go back and live the life that got me this life.
Sitting in a car on the way to some dump in Conneticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Suzie on the nobody gives a fuck morning show did not get me this life.
Talking to some lady that deep down doesn't give a fuck about what I'm doing, but just wants some sound bites so she can maybe get her little tight ass a nice raise, and I'm cool with that too, I've been giving you all raises. But I need to focus on me now.
I'm coming for my revenge here.
I flew an entire team to Portugal and to Iceland to make my adjustments in preparation and fix my errors I made with the weight and the cardio prep.
With the right adjustments and the right focus, I will finish what I started in that last fight.
I will not do this if I am back on the road handing out flyers again.
I will always play the game and play it better than anybody, but just for this one, where I am coming off a loss, I asked for some leeway where I can just train and focus. I did not shut down all media requests. I simply wanted a slight adjustment.
But it was denied.
There had been 10 million dollars allocated for the promotion of this event is what they told me.
So as a gesture of good will, I went and not only saved that 10 million dollars in promotion money, I then went and tripled it for them.
And all with one tweet.
Keep that 10 mill to promote the other bums that need it. My shows are good.
I must isolate myself now.
I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time.
I can not dance for you this time.
It is time for the other monkeys to dance. I've danced us all the way here.
Nate's little mush head looks good up on that stage these days. Stuff him in front of the camera for it.
He came in with no shit to do that last one. I'd already done press conferences, interviews and shot the ads before RDA pulled out.
Maybe I'll hit Cabo this time and skull some shots pre-fight with no obligation.
I'm doing what I need for me now.
It is time to be selfish with my training again. It is the only way.
I feel the $400million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway.
I am still ready to go for UFC 200.
I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training. With no distractions.
If this is not enough or they feel I have not deserved to sit this promotion run out this one time, well then I don't know what to say.
For the record also -
For USADA and for the UFC and my contract stipulations -
I AM NOT RETIRED./QUOTE]

Originally Posted by kmart

I feel the $400million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway.

fair enough too.

So as a gesture of good will, I went and not only saved that 10 million dollars in promotion money, I then went and tripled it for them.
And all with one tweet.

Brilliant!