UFC Hall of Famer Chael Sonnen believes Conor McGregor’s time is up in MMA.
McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since consecutive defeats to Dustin Poirier in 2021.
He broke his leg in their July rematch and his comeback has been arguably the biggest talking point among the MMA community since.
McGregor has teased his return numerous times during this period, and even had a fight booked against Michael Chandler for the main event of UFC 303 in June.
However, the bout never came to fruition, as the Irishman hurt his toe while in his training camp.
Last week, McGregor hinted at retirement from the UFC in a bombshell update on his fighting future when speaking at BKFC 70 as a co-owner of the bare knuckle promotion.
This prompted a brutal response from Sonnen, who believes one particular comment from McGregor leads him to believe that it could be all over.
“He made a statement and it was a small one but my ears picked up on it,” Sonnen said on Good Guy / Bad Guy with Daniel Cormier.
“He simply said, ‘Greatness doesn’t rush.’ He made this statement and I remember going for the first time ever, ‘That’s not true.’
“If you do not have an urgency, if you do not have an, ‘I need this and I gotta do it now,’ something inside you that’s burning and driving, you can actually kick the can and live with that, you’ve got the option to compete but you choose not to?
“Greatness is rushed. Everything in sports, everything you gotta do has got to be done right now, and that used to be his mindset.
“He put that simple sentence out and I saw it and said it is a wrap.”
Fellow UFC Hall of Famer Cormier agreed with Sonnen’s view, saying too that if McGregor has lost the urgency to fight then his career inside the Octagon is likely over.
Sonnen then made the point that if McGregor were to return, he wouldn’t be capable of beating any current UFC fighters in his weight classes.
“You gotta understand. What part of it would he come back for?” he added.
“We’re told by him that he doesn’t need the money, we can see that his time is occupied. A lot of fighters cling to the sport because they have nothing else to do.
“He’s got a beating standing in front of him. We can go 155 [pounds], we can go 170, we can make up a weight class.
“There’s not an athlete under contract with the Ultimate Fighting Champions, located in southern Nevada, that he can beat.
“I don’t even mean that to be a jerk. When they bring him back, they put him in a main event. All of a sudden you’re asking him to do five rounds.
“We’ve got a guy who can’t breathe for a full round. This is just a reality, there’s nothing to come back for…there’s no reason to come back.”
UFC President Dana White has previously been optimistic on the return of McGregor to his promotion when asked.
However, back in February at UFC Saudi Arabia, his response of, ‘I’m not sure,’ to the media had alarm bells sounding that McGregor’s career could be over.
Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is also in a similar camp.
“To be honest, I don’t know why people are still talking about Conor McGregor,” he said.
“He’s done everything he wanted to do in the sport and now he chooses to live his life the way he’s living it.”
