Conor McGregor retires: Dana White explains reason for Notorious retiring from UFC
Conor McGregor announced his third retirement from mixed martial arts early on Sunday morning.
Conor McGregor made UFC 'really fun' claims Dana White
UFC president Dana White reckons Conor McGregor's decision to retire was borne out of frustration. Last Sunday, McGregor announced his third retirement from mixed martial arts on Twitter.
McGregor's latest hanging up of his gloves came as a huge surprise to everyone in the MMA world as just a few months ago he was vocal about fighting three times this year.
White was quizzed about McGregor's stunning retirement announcement during the UFC 250 post-fight press conference, in which he revealed 'The Notorious' has been champing at the bit to get back inside the Octagon.
“He’s been wanting to fight. He’s frustrated because he wants to fight. I’m sure that’s a piece of it,” White said.
“It’s not that we can’t have him fight, but who do you want to fight right now? Do you want to fight Ferguson?
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He’s frustrated because he wants to fight
"He called out [Jorge] Masvidal. Masvidal, ok, you know, who do you fight right now? And where do we fight Conor McGregor right now?
"Fight Island isn’t even up and running until July.
"So if you look at all the problems to run a business like this, multiply it by a f*****g million and that’s where we are right now.
"And there’s a lot of other shit that goes on behind the scenes right now that, you know, it’s a wacky time to be the first guy putting on live sports when a lot of f*****g people who are nutty as hell didn’t want you to.”
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The prospect of McGregor being retired seemingly doesn't worry White, who insists he won't beg the Irishman to perform a U-turn.
"If Conor McGregor feels he wants to retire, you know my feelings about retirement - you should absolutely do it,” White said. “And I love Conor.
“There's a handful of people that have made this really fun for me. And he's one of them."
He added: “If these guys want to sit out and retire right now or anybody feels uncomfortable in any way, shape or form with what’s going on, you don’t have to fight. It is all good."
McGregor, 31, shed some light on his decision to bring the curtain down on his career during an interview with ESPN, in which he revealed he's "bored" of the fight game.
"The game just does not excite me, and that's that," McGregor told ESPN. "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.”