Being Notoriously Difficult
McGregor fanboys breath a sigh of relief but questions remain
The world of MMA was thrown in to a certain amount of turmoil when 27 year old UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor announced his retirement on Twitter this Tuesday:
I have decided to retire young.
Thanks for the cheese.
Catch ya's later.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) 19 April 2016
It was quickly confirmed by UFC president Dana White that this wasn’t a hoax or some Joleon Lescott style pocket tweeting. Reporters and fans speculated about what was going on. Was Conor so deeply affected by the tragic death of Portuguese fighter Jaoa Carvalho that he felt he couldn’t continue to put himself at risk? Was he after even more money? Was this a convenient way to escape another loss to Nate Diaz?
In the end it turns out that The Notorious simply didn’t fancy doing the battery of press appearances which have become standard ahead of one of his fights. Having lost to the physically bigger Diaz in the second round at UFC 196 McGregor feels that he can’t afford to spend his time giving interviews, making flashy ads and standing around having his photo taken. He needs to train, he needs to fix whatever he feels was to blame for his loss to Diaz and that can’t be done if he’s flying around the world handing out pithy soundbites to the media.
I am just trying to do my job and fight here. I get paid to fight … https://t.co/xW1P3G2710
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) 21 April 2016
So after all the hulabaloo McGregor isn’t retired and does want to fight on the UFC 200 card in Las Vegas. The question now is whether Dana White will swallow his pride and allow him to do so without fulfilling his media obligations or if McGregor backs down from his current stance and does the promotional dance once again. Our odds say he’ll be on that UFC 200 card but then our odds also said he’d beat Diaz the first time round. Only time and McGregor will tell.