UFC president Dana White would respect Conor McGregor's decision if he does indeed walk away from the sport
McGregor, a former UFC two-division champion, shook up the MMA world early Sunday morning by announcing his apparent retirement on Twitter. White reacted to the development at the UFC 250 postfight press conference in Las Vegas.
"One of the beautiful things about this sport is you don't have to fight," White said, according to The Mac Life. "This isn't the NBA or the NFL, where you better be at practice, you better show up and do this. You don't have to do anything here. And if these guys want to sit out and retire right now, or if anybody feels uncomfortable in any way, shape, or form with what's going on, you don't have to fight. It is all good.
"So if that's what Conor's feeling right now, Jon Jones, Jorge Masvidal, I feel you. It's not like I'm going, 'Holy shit, this is crazy, this is nuts.' Nothing is crazy and nuts right now, because everything is crazy and nuts right now. On a certain level, I totally understand it and get it."
Jones, the light heavyweight champion, and Masvidal, a top welterweight contender, have recently spoken out against the promotion and asked for their releases over pay disputes. With McGregor now saying he's retiring, there seems to be an emerging trend of top stars speaking up. However, White chalked up the current situation to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the athletes.
"We're in a pandemic," White said. "The world is a crazy place right now, with all these things that are going on. I think that everybody feels this right now. There's no fans, you can't travel the fights around. I think everybody is pissed off, confused, (have) been locked up in their houses for three months, people are wearing masks. There's protests, there's riots."
He added, "The amount of people that I have gunning at me right now is insane," White continued. "It's insane. But here we are."
