It was quite the reveal last week when Conor McGregor told us that he would be retiring from MMA and the UFC. Just the week before, he had been talking about his plans to continue fighting and someday own shares in the UFC. In fact, McGregor even said that his next fight would be contingent upon some type of UFC ownership. Regardless, McGregor decided to announce his retirement which led to a lot of skepticism in the MMA community. McGregor is known for his publicity stunts and in April of 2016, McGregor announced his retirement in a similar fashion.
One of the fighters that are skeptical of his announcement, is his last opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov. Khabib famously defeated McGregor in a great fight that saw the Russian dominate from start to finish. While speaking at a Russian university in Moscow, the champion explained his feelings on McGregor.
"I don't think he's finished,'' Khabib remarked, adding that he believes the retirement has to do with McGregor failing to reach a deal with the UFC.
As for McGregor's hopes of someday owning shares of the UFC, it appears as though that will never happen. Dana White spoke about that prospect to TMZ Sports and he was pretty clear in his answer.
"That's never gonna happen," White said. "Listen, if you want to own a piece of the company, you have to put up the money to buy a piece of the company. That's how it works."