Back in April, featherweight champion Conor McGregor announced on Twitter he was retiring from the sport. McGregor was unhappy with the fact he had to leave his training camp and had to travel to the United States for a couple days and promote his UFC 200 rematch against Nate Diaz. The 13-word tweet was re-tweeted and liked 337,000 times which was more than when NBA star Kobe Bryant announced he would retire at the end of the 2015-2016 season.
The UFC pulled McGregor from the show, McGregor then came out of retirement and will meet Diaz at UFC 202. While he did come back to the sport, McGregor really did consider staying away from the sport permanently.
"If it came down to it, I would've," McGregor said to MMAFighting.com. "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. F*ck it. I was happy, and when it all came down, for a day maybe I was like, you know what, f*ck it, I am retired. Put the feet up that night, had a f*cking drink, went out. I was like, f*ck everybody, I'm out of here.
"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, f*ck 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."
UFC 202 takes place on Saturday night from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
