Earlier this week, Conor McGregor surprised sports fans by tweeting about his retirement. And now, the professional MMA fighter has issued his first statement in response to his controversial tweet.
On April 20, McGregor updated his Twitter followers by stating that he has decided to retire early. This was then followed by another tweet from his coach John Kavanagh which seemed to support the fighter's earlier statement.
"Well [it] was fun while it lasted," Kavanagh tweeted.
Many fans of course only regarded the tweets from these two as a form of prank since despite being defeated by Nate Diaz at UFC 196, McGregor is still in the prime of his career.
To get a better perspective on the matter, Visir, a news outlet in Iceland, where McGregor is currently training, reached out to him for an interview. The news site got a response from the fighter but it was brief and straight to the point.
"No, I'm retired," McGregor told Visir. "F*** interviews."
At this point, fight fans can either believe McGregor when he said he has retired already or keep hopping that this is only a joke.
But, either way, it seems McGregor has already missed out on the opportunity to avenge his loss at UFC 196 through a rematch against Diaz at UFC 200. As reported by MMA Junkie, shortly after McGregor tweeted about his retirement, the UFC pulled him out of the upcoming pay-per-view event.
But, the promotion company's decision had nothing to do with the tweet. Instead, the UFC decided to take him out because he failed to show up at a promotional event in Las Vegas.
"The one thing nobody is exempt from is promoting fights," UFC President Dana White said according to MMA Junkie. "Muhammed Ali promoted his fights. 'Sugar' Ray Leonard promoted his fights."
"He made a decision and made a choice to not want to fight on this card, and that's how he gets paid, so that's on him, man," he added. "That's not on me. The show will roll on."
As for UFC 200, the promotional company is still looking for possible fighters who can replace McGregor in his fight against Diaz.
