Conor McGregor, the MMA’s poster boy and the UFC’s Featherweight Champion, had this to tweet in the wee hours of the morning:
“I have decided to retire young.Thanks for the cheese.Catch ya’s later.”
While fighters generally have the tendency to tease retirement, either to create waves on social media or with the ignoble intention of pranking an eager fanbase, this tweet sent out by the game’s favourite son suggested deeper implications than either of those angles.
For one, Conor McGregor certainly doesn’t need to tease retirement to create waves in the media. And for those who have followed the meteoric rise of the “truth talker” who shoots from the hip, he doesn’t seem to be much of a prankster either.
Sure enough, with the MMA media swarming all over the news in no time, reports from the ever reliable Ariel Helwani of MMA fighting corroborated the veracity of the tweet, stating that his well placed sources confirmed it was indeed no troll job.
Apparently there is indeed a blazing fire behind all the smoke.
Although Conor McGregor or his camp have been unavailable for comment since, the death knell was sounded out to the MMA world – still immersed in shock and awe at the sudden onset of deveopments – when the UFC announced that they were pulling Conor McGregor from the UFC 200 card that he was set to headline alongside Nate Diaz.
While Dana White went on Sportscentre to claim that the withdrawal was due to the Irishman refusing to play ball with the company and arrive at Las Vegas to promote the mega event this friday, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand – that even on first glance – the situation beggars greater comprehension than merely what meets the eye.
The payday?
For anyone who has followed Conor McGregor’s meteoric UFC trajectory, from collecting welfare checks in Ireland to redefining the role of the modern MMA fighter in just 3 short years, they would all attest to the man’s unabashed love of money.
Whether it be to flaunt the cripsly tailored suits or the automobiles that spit fire, the Irishman has never shied away from the living the high life or the keen glare of the media spotlight that goes hand in hand with it.
So lesser than three months removed from what could yet be his biggest payday, for both him and the UFC, it beguiles as to why on earth Conor McGregor would even contemplate retirement?
Surely, if the record breaking pay-per-view numbers that UFC 100 did were indicative of a landmark occasion, UFC 200 is surely on course to better that given the up-swing of popularity that the sport finds itself on in today’s climate.
And with Conor McGregor-Nate Diaz 2 billed as the mother of all rematches, considering how popular their first showdown at UFC 196 proved to be, it espouses little logic – if any – that the Irishman would spurn the opportunity to cash in what could possibly be his biggest paycheck yet.
Are the cracks finally showing?
A rumour that a rift has been brewing between the UFC brass and Conor McGregor has been circulating the internet ever since it was announced that he was not content to just roost at Featherweight, but actively seeked a challenge in heavier weightclasses as well.
And despite both Dana White and Conor McGregor coming forward to allay the murmurs, arriving fashionably late to the then UFC 197 Tickets on Sale press conference against Rafael Dos Anjos or openly deprecating the UFC’s poster department seemed to imply that all was indeed not smooth sailing behind the scenes.
Although those rumours were pushed to the back-burner during the rollicking build to his first fight with Nate Diaz, this latest retirement bombshell that Conor McGregor has dropped has stoked those dying embers once again, suggesting that perhaps the inevitable has only been delayed.
While the UFC and Conor Mcgregor purportedly found middle ground to make the Nate Diaz fight happen, it would seem that the cracks that were touted to have appeared between the two parties were very real, and that UFC 196 may have only served to plaster over them after all.
Promotional stunt?
While the official word from the UFC is that Conor McGregor was pulled from UFC 200 as he refused to promote his fight, this reasoning beggars belief and raises a few eyebrows given how adept the Irishman has proved at the promotional aspects of the fight game in the past.
From embarking upon a world tour and whipping up a huge buzz surrounding his Featherweight Title fight against Jose Aldo, to even conducting his own post-fight conference following the 13 second knockout of the Brazilian, Conor McGregor has always proved to be in his element when fulfilling promotional duties.
So for a man that readdressed the importance of fighters in marketing themselves in today’s dynamic, it would suggest a stange and anomalous departure from his modus operandi that he is refusing to play ball with the UFC in this instance.
If one looks at the situation objectively then, this could all well be a stunt that is being pulled with both sides in conjunction with the other. For if it is, nothing could garner more attention and eyeballs, both hardcore and mainstream, on the UFC 200 event.
And almost too conveniently, the Tickets on Sale press conference for the event is pencilled in to happen this friday in Las Vegas.
Could this be an instance of mere coincidental timing, or is it after all – as many would no doubt prefer it to be – a promotional ruse of pure genius?
“I’m not surprised, mother*******!”
Almost in keeping with Nate Diaz’s post fight Octagon interview for the ages after he choked out Conor McGregor at UFC 196, are we really caught off guard that it has come to this?
By his own admission, Conor McGregor has seriously flirted with the idea of retirement in his career before, not least when he was still fighting in Cage Warriors as a two weight world champion and awaiting the call-up from the UFC. A call that he had then resigned to himself, would never arrive.
For all intents and purposes then, his UFC journey has already been the second wind of sorts in his sails; a shot in the arm when all the chips were down.
And in addition to that, when quizzed upon his goals in the UFC, he has stated in previous interviews that he intends to “Get in, get the belts, get the money and get out!”
Could these retirement talks then be borne out of Mystic Mac just making good out of yet another one of his prophecies?
Normally we wouldn’t expect fighters to get out when they are in the fighting prime of their lives. But are we truly surprised at this development given that he is anything but a “normally” fighter?
For a man that set the UFC ablaze, scything through the MMA landscape like a shooting star, perhaps it only begets poetic justice that he also chose to vanish from the scene with a bang, not unlike the manner in which he appeared.
Far-fetched as it may seem, in Conor McGregor’s case, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising.
The Joao Carvalho Debacle
The unfortunate death of Joao Carvalho, a Portuguese fighter who passed away due to injuries sustained in a MMA fight in Dublin last week, has been well documented in all the news flashes to do with MMA.
And to many fans, unconnected to the event except perhaps through their computer monitors, that is exactly what it has been – an unfortunate news flash.
But to Conor McGregor, who was seated ringside to see the fight between his Straight Blast Gym teammate Charlie Ward and Joao Carvalho, one must understand that the tragic demise must have taken on a different hue altogether.
Imagine watching a man fight and then pass away shortly after that due to injuries sustained in the bout. Imagine reliving the fight a million times in your head, wondering which punch it was that could have ultimately sealed his fate and consigned him to death.
To a fellow fighter that pursues the same dream of fighting inside the cage, especially one that is as intelligent as Conor Mcgregor, witnessing the events unfold as they did could have morphed into a far graver perspective than was was made of it by the casual media.
As evinced by the heartfelt tribute message that was posted on the Notorious one’s facebook page shortly after Joao Carvalho’s passing, it seemed that the Portuguese fighter’s manner of demise had indeed cut deep with Conor McGregor.
Did it perhaps cut deep enough that it caused him to re-evaluate his own position in his career though?
After all, he did take quite a considerable amount of punishment from Nate Diaz in his previous fight before giving up his back and getting choked out. Could the sobering turn of events that transpired in Dublin coupled with a glance at his bank balance make him decide that fighting again was just not a risk worth taking?
If the rationale for his retirement did arise from along those lines, then the final stroke of artistry that Conor McGregor provided to the MMA landscape could be a timely reminder that even the toughest of fighters in the world, are only human.
