Conor McGregor “retired” on Tuesday.
Air quotes, because he’s 27 years old, and loves making and spending money, and because, MMA, y’all.
Really, nobody outside of McGregor’s inner circle knows exactly what’s happening, and if he’s serious about this sudden goodbye. This is, after all, the man who once laid out a surprise-ending scenario, telling Irish MMA site Severe MMA, “I'll walk away from this game, I'll set it ablaze and walk away. And that's it.”
In a way, that’s exactly what he’s done. Left jaws dropped on his way out the door. But who really saw this coming? Not even him, apparently. The guy who inspired the nickname “Mystic Mac” for his propensity to predict the future had agreed less than three weeks ago to face Nate Diaz at UFC 200 less.
To make sense of it all, I’m joined by my colleague, senior writer Chad Dundas.
Mike Chiappetta: I guess the relevant question here is, What the $#% is happening? If this is not a moment worthy of an expletive, what is? McGregor’s retirement announcement, with152,000 retweets and counting, has more RTs than Kobe Bryant’s retirement tweet. This is a huge story. And still it’s one with little clarity.
Kobe's retirement poem, at 130K RT's was the most RT'd athlete tweet of 2015. McGregor's tweet has now passed that https://t.co/H27SxkKNoK
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 20, 2016
Since thanking us "for the cheese," McGregor has not explained his decision at all, while the UFC’s official viewpoint should always be taken with a grain (or a pound) of salt. Meanwhile, reporters have offered multiple theories that all make some sense, and in a way, those numerous explanations might all yield some validity. After all, it is usually not one single thing that causes a star at the peak of his earnings power to walk away from millions.
Maybe he was deeply affected by the recent death of MMA fighter Joao Carvalho. Maybe he didn’t want to give up training time for a press tour. Maybe he thought his transcendent star power was worth more money. Isn’t it possible all of these things built up to the point he got fed up?
Chad Dundas: As annoyed as I am already by the rampant speculation clogging my social media timeline since McGregor dropped his cryptic tweet yesterday afternoon, I'm afraid this conversation calls for even more guesswork. We simply don't know what's going on with the Irishman right now and his silence on the topic--uncharacteristic enough to make us believe, whatever it is, it's something very weird--isn't helping.
But the notion that a man who is perhaps the most media-savvy fighter in the history of MMA--and a man truly in love with the sound of his own voice--would legitimately retire via cheeky tweet one day after flying to Iceland to continue training for UFC 200 is, frankly, absurd. Nothing about McGregor's initial tweet, the dead air following it or the wink-wink, nudge-nudge responses of his coaches and teammates leads me to believe that McGregor is actually done fighting.
No, I think he's trying to send a message to someone here.
What that message is, unfortunately, is anybody's guess so far.
Interesting day to say the least. Just finished dinner with friends and family.@TheNotoriousMMA @peterqueally pic.twitter.com/Zxm63i1Lxc
— Haraldur Dean Nelson (@HalliNelson) April 20, 2016
All we know is that he was booked for a fleet of media obligations in Las Vegas this week and that at some point he decided he wasn't going to make them. Maybe it was because he wanted more money, maybe not. Maybe it was because he felt shaken after witnessing Carvalho's death following an event in Ireland a little more than a week ago, maybe not.
But we know he and the UFC got crosswise over this issue, McGregor posted his tweet and then the UFC did as the UFC does. It "pulled him from the event" likely to show the world it is still boss.
What's your gut telling you, Mike?
Chiappetta: There’s not a bone in my body that believes this is the end, mostly because of the unlayering of this episode. First, McGregor, who is as spectacularly verbose as anyone who’s ever fought, says goodbye in a scant 13 words. Then, the UFC clearly tries to steal ownership of the narrative by claiming they dropped him from the card. There’s obviously friction there that is playing a role.
Really, is anyone too surprised? The UFC has basically feuded with almost every crossover star that’s come out of the promotion at some point, from Randy Couture and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to Tito Ortiz. Heck, they even denied Georges St-Pierre the classy exit he deserved when he tried to bow out.
While White has attempted to downplay any problems between them, his unwillingness to take McGregor’s retirement at face value suggests all is not quiet on the Irish front.
Even if White’s account was true, it suggests a rift. The UFC asked McGregor to do something he didn’t want to do. They tried to muscle each other into backing off, and McGregor lost that game of chicken. Does that sound like a good relationship?
My gut is telling me this might last a while, but it won’t last forever. McGregor’s ambitions were just too vast to be completely snuffed out in a huff.
Dundas: In a career where you could argue that McGregor has basically out-maneuvered the UFC at every turn, I feel like his ongoing silence on this issue constitutes his first real public relations mistake.
He's been so good on the mic throughout his short career inside the Octagon, that his suddenly willingness to allow the UFC to shape this story feels jarring. The fight company is getting its normal people out to all the normal places to get its side of the story out there and so far McGregor remains mum.
On Wednesday, UFC President Dana White appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd--a UFC-friendly media platform if there ever was one--to deny a rift between the promotion and McGregor. He said this current snafu isn't about money but commented the McGregor needs to clear up this retirement issue soon--or else.
On at least that last point, I agree with White. McGregor can't stay silent for much longer or he runs the risk of losing control of his own story. It's a classic fighter mistake and one I thought McGregor was too savvy to make. That, perhaps more than anything else going on here, makes me wonder what's really happening in the mind of Mystic Mac.
Chiappetta: But here’s the thing, Chad: We’re wondering. And as long as that curiosity remains, McGregor has our attention. The UFC can send out its talking heads to offer their version of events, but this isn’t a typical situation where they can drown out a single voice.
If and when McGregor chooses to explain himself, the sports world will be listening. If he held a press conference timed to coincide with the UFC 197 main event on Saturday night or the UFC 200 main event in July, we’d find a way to watch it. Let’s hope when the time comes, he has something important to say.
It’s true: UFC 200 doesn’t need him. The UFC doesn’t, either. The promotion always chugs along and manages the terrain whether rocky or smooth. They have that ultimate leverage. But McGregor has his star power and a willingness to speak his mind, and those are powerful tools he can exploit to right any wrong he might feel he suffered. Or he can just shelve them and ... live a quiet life?
The crazy thing about this whole episode is that almost no one accepts the possibility that he is actually and truly retired. In a way, that would be the most shocking outcome to this whole thing.
Dundas: Indeed.
Imagine if McGregor really did walk away at this moment. For starters, he'd be about the first person in the recorded history of combat sports to play his professional career exactly right. He got in, became a superstar, made a lot of money and got out with his faculties intact. It's the exact thing every single person says professional fighters ought to do and the very thing nobody ever actually does.
McGregor's brief, wondrous time in the UFC would surely be enshrined as one of the greatest--or at least most unique--careers not just in MMA, but perhaps any sport. Admittedly, there's an aspect of this that makes part of me hope he really is gone for good. It would put a perfect and perfectly weird exclamation point on all the other amazing things he's done.
I am 99 percent sure we will see Conor McGregor fight in the UFC again. If we don't, however, at least we should all feel fortunate to have witnessed him take the game by storm and then vanish with the same sudden intensity with which he appeared.
