Conor McGregor has suggested that he will immediately retire from MMA.
The former dual-weight champion hasn’t fought since breaking his leg during a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021 – but he’s been begging for a comeback date throughout 2024.
‘Notorious’ was supposed to face Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June. Unfortunately, the Irishman broke his pinky toe in training and opted to delay his return to the Octagon until he’s fully fit.
Now he’s without an opponent after Chandler was booked to face Charles Oliveira at UFC 309, which will see Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic headline a 12-fight card at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 16.
Conor McGregor says ‘goodbye’ to MMA?
On Monday morning, Conor McGregor suggested that he was done with MMA on social media.
The 36-year-old received a tweet from a fan advising him against returning after watching Khamzat Chimaev crush Robert Whitaker’s face and mangle his teeth with a vicious submission at UFC 308 on Saturday.
“No reason to come back to UFC or fighting in general, you have beautiful family, worth half a billion, businesses, as being a successful business man,” the fan wrote.
“You made your dreams come true, becoming UFC double champ. Don’t risk your health or well being, you have got nothing to prove to anyone champ, continue to live life with happiness @thenotoriousmma.”
McGregor’s well-meaning fan added ‘look at this below’ as he attempted to get the UFC superstar to stare at the graphic image of Whittaker’s caved-in teeth that went viral in the immediate aftermath of UFC 308.
Surprisingly, the fan got a reply that suggested that they’d convinced ‘Mystic Mac’ to retire.
McGregor wrote: “Ya know what, you’re right, good bye.”
It’s currently unclear if McGregor is serious or just having some fun on social media.
Conor McGregor has been talking up a fight with Ilia Topuria
Around 24 hours before suggesting he was done with fighting, McGregor called out Ilia Topuria.
The featherweight champion sensationally knocked out Max Holloway in the third round of their main event at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
In doing so, he made sure McGregor’s $17million bet was a total dud. Riled up by losing $1million in the space of a week, the UFC legend took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to rant at the 16-0 Spanish superstar.
Minutes after Topuria’s stunning knockout victory, McGregor implored the UFC to get on the phone.
“Call me,” McGregor tweeted.
After one fan predicted McGregor would KO Topuria, he took it a step further by replying: “Cave his head in handy.”
He added: “Good little fighter, too small for anything substantial IMO. He was getting chewed up there.”
McGregor and Topuria have been trading insults all year. The 145lb king didn’t mince his words when asked to respond to McGregor’s latest comments after UFC 308.
“I don’t know what to say,” an exasperated Topuria told ESPN MMA. “F*** him, I’m telling you f*** him. He fakes the comeback every time, he insults everyone in the UFC, he is like ‘I don’t care about anyone, ahh, I don’t respect anyone’.
“Bro, you’re f***ing sick, you have some problems to fix in your f***ing mind. You need to take some classes on respect and how to treat people because you’re going to end up really really bad. When you follow these kinds of values in life you end up really bad.
“So ask God not to cross paths with me, never ever, because I am going to f*** you up whenever I’m going to see you.”