Should Conor McGregor Retire from MMA or Not?

Conor McGregor, the famous MMA fighter and boxer, has announced his retirement on a number of occasions, but he just cannot seem to keep away from the limelight. He first announced he was retiring in March 2019, but this lasted all of a year before he was back in the ring again. Then, in June 2020, he told the world that he was retiring once again. Despite this announcement of retirement, he went on to fight Dustin Poirier in January 2021 and again in July. He lost both fights, and in this article we are going to take a look at whether he should just retire for good.

Reasons Why McGregor Should Retire

Below we are going to give you three reasons why we think McGregor should retire from MMA and boxing.

He is Set for Life

If we had a fraction of the money that McGregor has, we do not think that we would be too keen to carry on training each day and being careful about what we eat just so that we can step into the ring and get kicked in the face. Of course, it is not all about the money, but why would you get out of bed at five in the morning to do roadworks when you sleep in silk pajamas? If you have ever been bothered enough to Google McGregor’s net worth, you will know that he is set for life – he is worth an estimated $180 million, which is more than other sports stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and LeBron James. 

Now, elite performances and wealth are two things that can mix. We see the likes of Ronaldo and Messi and some other superstars still capable of performing jaw-dropping feats, despite their silk pajamas. However, things are different in the fighting world. Messi and Ronaldo do no not have to worry about making a mistake that could put them in a coma or kill them. With all that money in his bank account, we think he should step away from the sport and start enjoying his wealth. 

He is Not as Good as He Was

Let us be honest here, McGregor is not the fighter he used to be. He is now 33, and while this is not ancient in the MMA world, it is definitely not young. He has also lost quite a bit of speed and strength, and without the snap of his punches and the speed to dodge attacks, he is simply not the fighter that helped to put MMA on the map. Getting into the ring when you are not at the top of your game anymore is dangerous. 

In fact, nowadays, if he was to step into the ring again, we truly believe that the vast majority of people who bet from his homeland would be more than happy to bet against him. There can be no doubt that he has lost the best bookmakers, which are reviewed at www.betinireland.ie, plenty of money over the years with his wins, but nowadays if he is helping MMA fans win money it is most likely because they are betting on his opponents to win. 

He Has Nothing Left to Prove

Another reason why we think that McGregor should contemplate retirement is that he has absolutely nothing left to prove to the world. Sure, there will be those who still do not rate him, but his achievements more than speak for themselves. He is a former lightweight and featherweight champion and has the record for the fastest UFC knockout ever, which stands at just 13 seconds. 

The Irishman took the sport by the scruff of the neck and helped to boost its popularity, marketability and profits overnight. He has done more for the sport than anyone, and he could walk away with his head held high. 

Reasons Why He Should Not Retire

So, we have given you three reasons why McGregor should retire, and now we are going to be fair and give you three reasons why he should not retire.

He is Still Big Business

Although he has had the MMA career of a God, he is still a mortal. He will have to retire at some stage, but when? One of the main reasons why he should not retire is that he is still huge business. We mean, if there is someone out there that can sell out stadiums and get thousands tuning in on Pay-Per-View despite picking up a negative results, it is McGregor. Sure, fans will lose more and more interest if he carries on losing, but he still has some life left in him yet. 

As we said above, he is not the fighter that he used to be, but he still has a sky-high profile. He is a legendary MMA figure and people will still pay good money to watch him fight. 

He Has a Legacy to Protect

Now, we get that there are two sides to a coin, and McGregor going on to lose more fights just because he cannot let go is something that will put a dent in his legacy. However, his competitive nature is something that will not let him hang up his gloves until it is blatantly obvious to him that his well has run dry. 

As things stand, there is still a chance that he could end his MMA career on a small winning streak, meaning that when he does eventually retire for good, it will not be under the black cloud that many are predicting. If you take out the likes of other greats such as Demetrious Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Georges St-Pierre, very few greats have left the MMA scene with pristine resumes. For example, Chuck Liddell lost four of his last five fights, while BJ Penn lost all five of his last fights.

This highlights that most fighters decline towards the end of their career, and while many fans have had to watch fighters drag out their careers too long, we do not think that McGregor is in this category yet. 

He Has a Couple of Boxes to Tick

In his homeland of Ireland, he is a polarizing character. A lot of his fellow Irishmen hate him and are not shy in expressing their hatred whenever his name pops up. He is accused by many of his compatriots as being an embarrassment for the country for both the way that he handles himself and the fact that he sees himself as the ambassador of Ireland. 

However, there are still plenty of natives that adore him and give him the credit that he deserves for what he has done in the MMA world. One of his main wishes was to have an MMA fight in Dublin, and this wish was granted back in 2014 when he beat Diego Brandao. However, this was a tiny venue, and he still wants a big stadium fight in Dublin with a big opponent, and we do not think he will let his gloves get dusty until this has happened. 

McGregor has a desire to have another shot at a title. If he dropped down to 145, then he would almost defintiely get another title shot, but it is not likely that he would be willing to do that. If he moved up to 170, then we are sure that he would be destroyed by Kamaru Usman, but if Usman were to lose to someone else, then maybe that would open the door for McGregor to fight his victor.

When Will McGregor Retire?

Well, we guess that this is the million-dollar question that only McGregor knows the answer to. It is a tricky one to answer since there are a number of good reasons as to why he should carry on fighting and a number of good reasons as to why he should hang up his gloves. He has made himself extremely rich off the back of MMA, but by doing so he has become a commodity, and nowadays a product of major value usually gets squeezed until dry. As it stands, the McGregor brand still has some juice to yield. We would be surprised if he did not have at least one more fight in 2022 before calling it a day. 

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