Vad som skulle bli årets gala blev det inte lika mycket av då Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 2 och Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2 plockades bort från UFC 200. Nu erkänner han att han för en stund pensionerade sig.
Det var i april som Conor McGregor (19-3) annonserade sin pensionering på Twitter vilket skapade en rejäl viral storm då hela internet kokade över av spekulationer kring varför han gjorde detta. Han är fascinerad av dagens samhälle då han kan ha kontakt med hela världen via telefonen i fickan.
”Off I went to the gym, and then I came out of the gym and all of a sudden the thing is fucking everywhere, like, oh shit,” berättade McGregor i måndags på The MMA Hour. ”We were in Iceland, we were doing what we do, training and studying to whoop somebody’s ass. That’s it. I have access to a phone and my phone has access to millions upon millions upon millions of people.”
”So, that was another crazy experience. This life is a roller coaster, there’s many ups and downs. But I mean, you’ve got to look at it like this: who doesn’t love a roller coaster? Who wants to be stuck on flat ground going through life?”
Detta blev startskottet på problemen mellan UFC och McGregor. Det verkar som att han var totalt oförberedd på den cirkus som startade kring detta vilket till slut innebar att han blev bortplockad från matchkortet för UFC 200
”I’ll ask you this: were you entertained? That’s what it’s all about, were you fucking entertained? Because I was. I having a great time. It was crazy, what was going on. This age that we live in is insane. The access that we can have and the things that can blow up from nowhere to everyone — I’m in Iceland in the middle of nowhere in my room, I have to go training, and I can reach millions upon millions of people in the blink of an eye. I don’t know, I’m fascinated by it.
”This new social media age, we don’t even watch TV. Who watches TV anymore? There’s 40 TVs in this house and there’s about 20 people in the house, none of us have had the TV on once. So it’s a new age and I’m just capitalizing on it, and I think all the experiences I’ve had through the retirement thing, the (UFC) 200 (situation), just everything throughout my career on this damn internet, I’ve learned from it. I’ve learned that there’s power in this.
Det hela blev till slut så galet att han för några timmar gjorde det han hade skrivit på Twitter ett par månader tidigare, han gick i pension mitt i det som han kallar ”the UFC 200 debacle”. Men det tog inte någon lång tid innan han tog sitt förnuft till fånga.
”If it came down to it, I would’ve. But good luck trying to keep an Irishman from a fight. I would’ve showed up and slapped somebody with the way it was all going down. Fuck it. I was happy, and when it all came down, for a day maybe I was like, you know what, fuck it, I am retired. Put the feet up that night, had a fucking drink, went out. I was like, fuck everybody, I’m out of here.”
Men nu är han i full gång igen och på lördag är det äntligen dags för den efterlängtade returmatchen på UFC 202.
”And then it was like, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that. Then it kind of got a little bit more serious. Whatever, it was a crazy experience, but if it came to it, fuck it, I have enough. I don’t know what would’ve happened. Like I said, I’m comfortable. Win, lose, draw, whatever happens, I’m eating good for the rest of my days. So whatever happens happens, but I do enjoy a good old-fashioned knock, and that’s what this is. So I’m very happy to be back.”
Foto: Vince Cachero
