Conor McGregor has revealed he decided to retire last month after falling out of love with fighting.
The former two-weight UFC champion hung up his gloves for the third time in four years on Sunday morning after his career was put on hold due to the coronavirus crisis.
McGregor had planned to fight three times this year but the pandemic has sidelined the sport’s highest-earners while crowds are banned from events.
And the Irishman has grown frustrated to the extent he insists he is ready to call it a day.
“I’m a bit bored of the game,” he told ESPN. “I’m here watching the fight. I watched the last show – the Woodley-Burns show – I watched the show tonight. I’m just not excited about the game.
“I don’t know if it’s no crowd, I don’t know what it is, there’s just no buzz for me.
“The game just does not excite me, and that’s that. All this waiting around; there’s nothing happening, I’m going through opponent options, and there’s nothing really there at the minute. There’s nothing that’s exciting me.”
McGregor had hoped to fight Justin Gaethje this summer to set up another shot at the lightweight title but Gaethje instead fought Tony Ferguson for the interim 155lb belt.
His victory has catapulted him into a fight with champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in September – but McGregor still insists he should be fighting Gaethje next.
“They should have just kept the ball rolling,” he said. “I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje] back to September?
“You know what’s going to happen in September, something else is going to happen in September, and that’s not going to happen.
“I laid out a plan and a method that was the right move, the right methods to go with.
“And they always want to balk at that and not make it happen or just drag it on.
“Whatever I say, they want to go against it to show some kind of power.
“They should have just done the fight – me and Justin for the interim title – and just kept the ball rolling.”
Source: mirror
