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No one would be surprised, to be honest.
Conor McGregor has “retired” three times since 2016, except this time he claims to really mean it.
Whatever the case, the former UFC two-division champion has been out of action since a sensational TKO finish of Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January. Any talk about him rematching Khabib Nurmagomedov or having some other big fight lined up next eventually turned into a retirement announcement shortly after UFC 250.
In an interview with Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd, UFC president Dana White echoed what I’m sure many others are thinking about the possibility that McGregor will un-retire and head back into the Octagon next year.
“I’m never going to have a time in my life where the media will determine what I do with my business.” @danawhite joins us from Abu Dhabi ahead of Fight Island: pic.twitter.com/nHaHLIrUk3
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 8, 2020
“There’s no doubt that Conor McGregor’s one of the best in the world,” White said. “What’s going on with Conor McGregor is what goes on with all professional fighters when they become extremely wealthy and Conor McGregor is rich.
“He gets to pick and choose what he wants to do now and he’s at that point in his career where he’s got a few fights left.”
“As of right now he’s retired. I wouldn’t be surprised if he came out and wanted to fight somebody next year after all these different fights play out.”
McGregor has teased potential fights against Anderson Silva or Justin Gaethje but nothing ever materialized. A prolonged absence from MMA competition would hardly be anything new when you consider he didn’t have any UFC bouts in 2017 or 2019.
Whether McGregor returns or not, don’t expect speculation about his future to go away any time soon.