Conor McGregor is having his cake and eating it after supposedly announcing his retirement from fighting.
The UFC star has posted a picture on Instagram of a chocolate cake iced with the words: "Happy Retirement Daddy x".
McGregor, 31, has two young children with his long-term partner Dee Devlin and may have opportunity for more family time after suggesting this weekend that he is stepping away from mixed martial arts.
He wrote on Twitter: “Hey guys, I’ve decided to retire from fighting. Thank you all for the amazing memories! What a ride it’s been”.
And he later told ESPN's Ariel Helwani: "The game just does not excite me, and that's that.
"All this waiting around. There's nothing happening. I'm going through opponent options, and there's nothing really there at the minute. There's nothing that's exciting me.
"They should have just kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje] back to September? You know what's going to happen in September, something else is going to happen in September, and that's not going to happen.
"I laid out a plan and a method that was the right move, the right methods to go with. And they always want to balk at that and not make it happen or just drag it on.
"Whatever I say, they want to go against it to show some kind of power. They should have just done the fight -- me and Justin for the interim title -- and just kept the ball rolling."
But with this his third supposed retirement in four years, many fight fans are skeptical if McGregor will actually hang up his gloves.
And punters have actually been backing him to return to the octagon before the year is out.
Sarah Kinsella, spokesperson for BoyleSports, said: “Our customers are clearly not buying talk of McGregor’s retirement with punters backing his chances of a UFC return this year into 4/1 from 6/1.
"We have also shaved the odds on the Irishman to have a second go at Khabib as those odds crumbled into 8/11 from 5/1.”
McGregor last fought in January on this year, taking just 40 seconds to beat Donald Cerrone in Las Vegas.
Conor McGregor Next Opponent
8/11 Khabib Nurmagomedov
2/1 Justin Gaethje
Will Conor McGregor Fight in the UFC 2020
4/1 YES
1/7 NO
