When you’re one of your sport’s biggest names, bowing out is a big call.
It’s one that athletes usually pore over for months, and then the announcement is followed by fan tributes and praise from around the globe.
That’s not exactly the case with the notorious Conor McGregor, who simply popped up a ‘hey, I’m retiring’ message on Twitter.
Didn’t pick him as a Pina Colada drinker, but here’s the tweet announcing that the 29-year-old is hanging up his gloves:
A quick check on his Instagram shows that he seems to be living the good life, with these posts going up in the past two days:
Jet skiing at Diddy’s crib…
And popping bottles of Proper Whiskey, which is a company that he founded.
I can’t say I’m buying the retirement, though, and I’m definitely not alone. Many say it’s just an attempt to squeeze more money for future fights, which is straight out of the Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather playbook.
A Twitter poll under his retirement tweet shows the general opinion:
Whilst many MMA fans are discussing the merits (or lack thereof) of his sudden retirement, others are focusing on the timing of his announcement, which comes on the same day as a New York Times report of sexual assault claims against the Irishman.
Let’s get that info via Rolling Stone:
A woman claims the mixed martial artist sexually assaulted her in December at a hotel on the outskirts of Dublin. Authorities arrested him in January but did not charge him, as they wanted to investigate it further. The paper reported that it had learned of the allegation from four anonymous sources.
The alleged attack took place at the Beacon Hotel, which typically caters to white-collar businessmen and people working in the tech industry, writes the newspaper. One of the Times’ sources claims McGregor stayed in a two-room penthouse the night before police say the incident happened. The athlete is an occasional guest of the hotel. Authorities took evidence from the room and are examining closed-circuit video from around the premises…
Neither the UFC nor McGregor himself have commented on the allegations. A rep for McGregor, however, said there was no correlation between the investigation and his retirement. “This story has been circulating for some time and it is unclear why it is being reported now,” publicist Karen Kessler wrote in a statement. “The assumption that the Conor retirement announcement today is related to this rumor is absolutely false.”
The allegations against him remain unproven, and investigations are still ongoing, but the timing is odd, at best.
I wonder what his long-time partner, Dee Devlin, who has been there through thick and thin, thinks about all of this.
This isn’t McGregor’s first brush with the law in recent times, with CNN cataloguing a few of those:
Only this month, McGregor was arrested on charges of felony strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief following an altercation with a photo-seeking fan.
The fan and McGregor were leaving the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel, when the fan tried to take a picture with the fighter with a cell phone, according to a police report. McGregor then slapped the phone out of the fan’s hand and stomped on the phone several times.
Last April, McGregor was charged with assault, attempted assault and criminal mischief after he and others allegedly attacked a bus carrying UFC fighters at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The footage from that bus attack is quite something.
Even if he never fights again (he will), there should be enough money tucked away to keep him living the high life for many years to come. According to Forbes, he made a cool $88 million in 2018 alone.
I think we can all agree that we haven’t seen the last of Conor.
[sources:rollingstone&cnn]
