Conor McGregor has announced that he ISN’T retiring after all of the speculation over the last few days.
In a statement on his official Facebook, McGregor outlined the reasons for his on-going dispute with the UFC.
“I am just trying to do my job and fight here. I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote.” he said. “I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting. There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop.”
McGregor tweeted on Tuesday that he was going to retire young and thanked everyone for the money he has made.
I have decided to retire young.
Thanks for the cheese.
Catch ya's later.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 19, 2016
Over the past three years McGregor has always taken part in intense promotion with press conferences and appearances all over the world.
His undefeated streak in the UFC ended back in March when he lost to Nate Diaz after moving up two weight classes to fight at welterweight.
Nearly two months after the fight it look’s as if the Featherweight Champion now regrets the promotional responsibilites, which partly helped him reach superstardom
“50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photo shoots, and at the end of it all I’m left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation. And the many distractions that led to this.“ he said.
“Nothing else was going through my mind. It is time to go back and live the life that got me this life.”
“Sitting in a car on the way to some dump in Conneticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Suzie on the nobody gives a fuck morning show did not get me this life. “
UFC 200 was set to be one of the promotions biggest events with the rematch between Diaz and McGregor originally set to be the main event.
Dana White, owner of UFC, pulled McGregor from the card after his refusal to take part in media duties related to the the event, but he has told a number of media outlets that the fight could still happen if McGregor actively participates with the company.
McGregor seems to have continued his training in preparation for the event, despite the cancellation of the fight.
“I must isolate myself now. I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time,” he said.
“I flew an entire team to Portugal and to Iceland to make my adjustments in preparation and fix my errors I made with the weight and the cardio prep.
With the right adjustments and the right focus, I will finish what I started in that last fight.”
“It is time to be selfish with my training again. It is the only way. I feel the $400million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway. I am still ready to go for UFC 200. “
“I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training. With no distractions.”