On the evening of March 25, sports fans around the world were stunned by the news of former featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor announcing his retirement. Although it appears like everyone is taking the reports seriously, I think we should all not be so quick to declare that McGregor's legacy is finished. This is technically the second time that McGregor has retired from the UFC. It's been over five months since we last saw Conor McGregor in the Octagon in which he lost in the fourth round against Khabib Nurmagomedov via submission (neck crank).
Since his last fight, the only recent news about Conor McGregor was the Miami Beach incident in which he was arrested and charged with strong-arm robbery and criminal mischief. This happened during McGregor's current ban placed on both himself and Nurmagomedov by the Nevada Athletic Commission for the antics following UFC 229 in Las Vegas. I would think that Dana White, President of the UFC, was doing everything possible to get McGregor back in the octagon. After all, McGregor has headlined four of the six highest-selling UFC pay-per-views of the company's entire existence. McGregor even recently confirmed that he was in current negotiations with White for a fight scheduled to be around July later this year.
So that's why this entire retirement announcement seems weird to me. I came across the tweet moments after McGregor posted it on Twitter. It was surprising and felt like it came straight out of nowhere. Everything surrounding the story is so fresh that I just can't buy into the idea that McGregor's career is over. In my heart of hearts, I don't see Conor McGregor hanging up his boots just yet. I think McGregor still has a lot of fight left in him and wants to prove yet again why he is one of the best brawlers the UFC has ever seen. For the person that McGregor is, it feels like its outside of his nature to call it quits.
In due time, I believe that Conor McGregor will return once again to the Octagon and headline another UFC event.