So uh, Conor McGregor just tweeted he's done

[SlightlyJames]

Bloody surprising if he's not taking the piss. Know we've got a few UFC folk around the board, any insight on this? Would have to imagine there's some sort of story going on here.

[Hanley!]

This isn't going to endear him to the MMA fanbase - both his detractors and his actual fans. He always talked a big game, and seemed genuinely tough and up for a challenge, even after defeat. But if he's going to quit right after he gets his first loss after making it big, that makes him look like a bit of a coward frankly.

He might have a good reason to quit. And I'd defend his right to do whatever the hell he wants. His life might be a lot better if he just relaxes and enjoys the millions he made fighting. I'd be tempted to do that in his situation. But at the same time, if it had been some other fighter who had decided to quit after taking a bad beat, you know McGregor would have been all over them in interviews.

[PorkChop]

He's been pulled from UFC 200. I thought this was a joke, but seemingly not. I'm sure he'll be back at some point, but it seems he's serious about this for the time being.

Interesting stat - his retirement tweet got more retweets than Kobe Bryant's.

[AkydefGoldberg]

I'd imagine it's some sort of conflict with Dana/UFC that's been the reason and I'd be surprised if his retirement was a long-term decision. I think he'll be back soon enough once his paycheck has been sufficiently increased. Mayweather retired in 2007, but was back in 2010 and hadn't skipped a beat. McGregor probably will be back before three years.

[Daz]

I've seen a lot of speculation that his retirement, if it is indeed legit, has been influenced by the death of Joao Carvalho. That wouldn't surprise me to be honest, especially as an immediate reaction to that, but I can't see this being the end of McGregor's MMA career.

Either way though, I reckon he'll be successful at whatever he chooses to do next.

[AkydefGoldberg]

If he was retiring, imagine retirement statement wouldn't involve one tweet including the word cheese.

I can't imagine the death of Carvalho having such an impact to be the driving force behind his retirement.

I think he'll go into acting rather than WWE or maybe, boxing?

[SlightlyJames]

Here's his statement. I haven't read it yet because it's long as fuck.

[AkydefGoldberg]

So he was tired of media commitments infringing on his preparation for the fight which you can understand and the 'retirement' was to alert Dana to it more seriously.

[War Daddy]

He doesn't want to fly everywhere for media promotion. He just wants to focus on fucking up Diaz for good.

The champ ain't going nowhere. #McGregorEra

[Hanley!]

Promotion totally is part of his job though.

He says that he's only paid to fight, but nobody gets paid that much money to do less than 30 minutes of work every two months. The media and the training, that's all part of it. And hell, whether he wants to admit it or not, the media element is what made him a star, not the fighting element.

Seems like this is a convenient way to excuse his loss too. Though he didn't outright say it, he pretty heavily implied that he wasn't focused enough and didn't train enough last time because of the media he was doing. Pretty lame if you ask me.

I guess it's good for UFC that he hasn't actually retired, though they might have to think twice before bowing to his demands in case they have to do it for everyone else in the future. This attention seeking stunt makes him look like a bit of a twat though. But I guess that's nothing new.

[The Legend]

It drives me crazy when people just ignore the fact that they have to cater to the fans to drum up business in a sport. Fighting by itself has no inherent value. You can't make money just fighting. You need fans to turn fighting into a career. The fans and by extension the outlet to the fans (the media) are the most important element to any professional sport.

[Hanley!]

It drives me crazy when people just ignore the fact that they have to cater to the fans to drum up business in a sport. Fighting by itself has no inherent value. You can't make money just fighting. You need fans to turn fighting into a career. The fans and by extension the outlet to the fans (the media) are the most important element to any professional sport.

Hey, if someone wants to pay me a million dollars to take a whipping from Nate Diaz, I'll do it in a heartbeat.

[AkydefGoldberg]

Apparently, reading on the BBC, McGregor's fight at UFC 200 isn't happening? I'd assumed with the retirement retraction he was preparing for that but maybe his original decision stands, i.e. not to fight this next one, and UFC are looking for a replacement. I assumed Conor would fight Diaz but maybe he was just saying he's not retiring, not necessarily that he's not retiring and still facing Diaz?

[Hanley!]

Apparently, reading on the BBC, McGregor's fight at UFC 200 isn't happening? I'd assumed with the retirement retraction he was preparing for that but maybe his original decision stands, i.e. not to fight this next one, and UFC are looking for a replacement. I assumed Conor would fight Diaz but maybe he was just saying he's not retiring, not necessarily that he's not retiring and still facing Diaz?

The idea seems to be that McGregor is willing to fight at UFC 200, but only if they give in to all of his demands. So right now, he's not on the card.