‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor is the most beloved, hated, and universally watched and known mixed martial arts fighter in the entire world, but he’s left many of us wanting more. Today, he posted this on his Instagram, perhaps hinting at ending his retirement.
Wow! Maybe there is more…“4 years ago today! Backstage waiting to go out for one of the biggest bouts of my fighting life! McGregor/Diaz II. Wow! Maybe there is more…”
It would be absolutely amazing to see ‘The Notorious’ return to the octagon. He’s one of the most accomplished and most entertaining fighters we’ve ever had, but his motivation hasn’t kept up with him.
This is probably because of his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in 2017, where he made upwards of $100,000,000 after it was all said and done.
When you have that much money, it is hard to wake up and want to drain your lungs and get physically attacked every day. He started fighting because it’s what he loved to do, but also to support himself and longtime girlfriend Dee Devlin, as well as their kids at this point.
Now that he doesn’t have to do that, now that he’s got all the money in the world, he’s had time to venture off into other hobbies and occupations. His whiskey is a big one, Proper No. 12, but he also has a clothing line now. He’s quite busy outside of the fighting world.
At one point, he was on welfare as the Cage Warriors Featherweight and Lightweight Champion. Then he made his UFC debut and was awarded the $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, and he was able to give that check up.
He went on to mirror that success in the UFC, first winning the interim UFC Featherweight Championship against Chad Mendes, then the undisputed UFC Featherweight Championship against Jose Aldo, before winning the undisputed UFC Lightweight Championship against Eddie Alvarez to become the first champ-champ ever.
Others had tried before him, such as BJ Penn and Randy Couture, and both of them won belts in two weight classes in the UFC, but not at the same time.
McGregor was the most active fighter in the UFC at this point, but he didn’t have another mixed martial arts fight until two years later, when he fought Khabib Nurmagomedov.
He then spent another fifteen-and-a-half months outside the cage before facing Donald Cerrone.
McGregor stated leading up to his fight with Cerrone that he was looking at 2020 like a season, and that he’d like to have two more fights within the years end after his fight with Cerrone.
He looked better than ever in his return, which is crazy because there’s a few times he’s looked better than ever and impressed us all. He won the fight via TKO in just 40 seconds, landing 20 of just 27 total strikes.
However, it seems like the Covid-19 pandemic made him lose his interest again, and he retired after knowing he wasn’t going to be scheduled any time soon. The UFC doesn’t want to miss out on a Conor McGregor gate, and while it’s hard to blame them, his career shouldn’t just be paused considering.
It’s unfortunate, because McGregor is already somewhat of a wasted talent, and he has the potential to go down as the best to ever do it.
From ages 28 to 32, where he is now, McGregor’s spent three of those years outside of fighting in MMA. The exact years where almost all athletes are at their physical peaks. That being said, he’s a truly special individual, and he could still have a great future in the sport if he can stay motivated.
It appears he’s got that itch back after looking back on his career, remembering a fight he had four years ago to this day. It’d be great to see him come back and have a dozen more fights, we can only hope.
Should Conor McGregor return, who would you like to see him fight?