Conor McGregor explains why he’s retiring: “I’m a bit bored of the game”

UFC superstar Conor McGregor explained his decision to announce his retirement from mixed martial arts, explaining that he’s “bored” with the sport.

McGregor shocked the MMA community immediately following UFC 250 when he took to Twitter to announce his retirement from the sport. This is not the first time McGregor has said he will retire only to come back and fight, but this time, he says he’s serious.

Speaking to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, McGregor explained in further detail the frustration that has led to him announcing his retirement from MMA.

“The game just does not excite me, and that’s that. 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,” McGregor said.

“They should have just kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje] back to September? You know what’s going to happen in September, something else is going to happen in September, and that’s not going to happen. I laid out a plan and a method that was the right move, the right methods to go with. And they always want to balk at that and not make it happen or just drag it on. Whatever I say, they want to go against it to show some kind of power. They should have just done the fight — me and Justin for the interim title — and just kept the ball rolling,” continued McGregor.

“I’m a bit bored of the game. I’m here watching the fight. I watched the last show — the Woodley-Burns show — I watched the show tonight. I’m just not excited about the game, Ariel. I don’t know if it’s no crowd. I don’t know what it is. There’s just no buzz for me.”

Perhaps if McGregor can sit down with UFC president Dana White and talk about his frustrations, the company can convince him to hang around. But as of right now, it appears the UFC has lost yet another one of its big stars to retirement.

Do you think Conor McGregor will actually retire?