Colin Cowherd thinks Conor McGregor is faking retirement because of dispute with UFC

"The Herd" host Colin Cowherd reacted to UFC champion Conor McGregor's abrupt Twitter retirement announcement, Tuesday, with incredulity. In the radio host's mind, this all smacks more of McGregor once again clashing with UFC brass behind the scenes over some unknown issue more than it does a legit retirement notice.

"You know what this feels like to me?" he began.

"A disagreement with Dana White and Conor McGregor. This feels like some sort of dispute."

McGregor last fought in March and is currently booked to rematch Nate Diaz in July, at UFC 200. By all accounts, McGregor's presence on the big Las Vegas event was considered a near-necessity in order to ensure the pay-per-view's sales success.

When you produce the numbers McGregor does, and have reached the levels of international popularity that he has, quickly, there are lots more numbers and figures involved in a mega-fight than simply your announced purse. Perhaps, McGregor and UFC president Dana White -- who is no stranger to rubbing fighters the wrong way in negotiations -- are at some sort of impasse, prompting McGregor to create some sort of leverage point for himself.

Or, maybe he's just trying to get himself, and his fight with Diaz, some more buzz. In either case, Cowherd isn't buying that the "Notorious" featherweight is actually retired, now.

"When you're at the height of your athletic peak, you generally don't retire, and you certainly don't do it without a smartly, well-crafted PR release," he reasoned.

"This seems like two guys got into an argument -- I'm just guessing, here -- and Conor McGregor, ticked-off, went to his Twitter account."

A short snippet on Twitter doesn't seem befitting of an announcement that one of the most famous fighters on the globe is hanging up his gloves, in Cowherd's mind. He imagines that Conor wouldn't see it as a proper stage, either.

"If you're going to retire, and you're Conor McGregor, the only reason you would go to Twitter, is for a reaction," he concluded.

"To have the ego to fight, you've got to believe your retirement is worth more than that, and is bigger news than that."