UFC fighter Conor McGregor announces retirement

Irascible Irishman and UFC fighter Conor McGregor has announced his retirement.

The man whose fights were the biggest draw in the world of mixed martial arts announced he was stepping aside on Twitter.

"Thank you all for the amazing memories! What a ride it’s been!," he posted alongside a picture of himself and his mother in Las Vegas after one of his World title wins.

The Irish former featherweight and lightweight champion tweeted the news following the conclusion of the UFC 250 event.

But McGregor's retirement statement may not been taken seriously by everyone in the mixed martial arts world. He also announced he was hanging up the gloves in a tweet in March 2016 and then again in March 2019 and both times his retirements were short-lived.

McGregor, whose fighting sobriquet was "The Notorious One", is a two division UFC World Champion and two division Cage Warriors World Champion.

In his last bout in January, McGregor brushed aside  Donald Cerrone, aka "The Cowboy", in under 40 seconds at UFC 246.

In only his second bout since 2016 - a gap filled by outside-the-cage troubles - McGregor returned to the Octagon with a bang.

He busted the nose of Cerrone in the fight's first skirmish before finishing him in a first-round TKO.

McGregor had not won  since November 2016 when he stopped Eddie Alvarez, the lightweight, to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two championship belts at the same time.

McGregor then fought his only boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in 2017 before losing a one-sided UFC bout to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.

UFC President Dana White has already said McGregor is next in line for a title shot at the winner of lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov's bout with Justin Gaethje this summer.

The UFC's schedule is in upheaval due to the coronavirus pandemic, but McGregor was expected to get his title shot later this year, and he recently had been talking to White about taking another fight even earlier. Earlier this week, McGregor posted photos and videos of himself training for fights.

White was still willing to take McGregor's retirement announcement at face value - at least publicly - when he learned about it at his news conference following UFC 250 in Las Vegas.

"If Conor McGregor feels he wants to retire, you know my feelings about retirement," White said.

"You should absolutely do it. And I love Conor.

"There's a handful of people that have made this really fun for me, and he's one of them."

Retirements are a time-honoured device for gathering attention and increased bargaining power in combat sports. From Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather to Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, countless champions of boxing and MMA have gone back on their solemn announcements whenever need or ego brought them back to the sport.

The 31-year-old retires with a 22-4 record.