Shane Lowry and John Kavanagh lead reaction to Conor McGregor’s (un)retirement

IF MMA doesn’t work out, there could be a career in writing for Conor McGregor.

The 27-year-old Dubliner finally broke his silence this afternoon, after 72 hours of manic speculation about his fighting future. The UFC featherweight champion used 651 well-chosen words to categorically state that he was not retired, and he wants to be part of UFC 200, but with less of the arduous demands of promotion and talking to the media. The ball is very much now in Dana White's and the UFC's court as they claimed that they had no option but to exclude him from the 9 July show in Las Vegas. The reaction online was as divisive as his original statement on Tuesday night. Firstly, John Kavanagh piped up. https://twitter.com/John_Kavanagh/status/723161363787485186 https://twitter.com/John_Kavanagh/status/723164629975863296 https://twitter.com/John_Kavanagh/status/723178335350730752 McGregor's SBG team-mate Artem Lobov also commented. https://twitter.com/RusHammerMMA/status/723164324282380288 Eddie Alvarez doesn't think McGregor's attitude to the UFC was too smart. https://twitter.com/Ealvarezfight/status/723164497792258048 https://twitter.com/Ealvarezfight/status/723165783862308865 Ben Askren thinks the Irishman played a clever game. https://twitter.com/Benaskren/status/723169526003675136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw And some editors just did not want to know. https://twitter.com/roakleyIRL/status/723164199090839556 Other writers were also less than impressed. https://twitter.com/EwanMacKenna/status/723160751058251778 https://twitter.com/EwanMacKenna/status/723170816490237952 And there was a lot of sympathy for poor 'Tim and Suzie'. https://twitter.com/Cormackennedy95/status/723171592776208384 https://twitter.com/dlbno/status/723167159216541697 https://twitter.com/SJSamano/status/723171957441617921 But Shane Lowry respects the Dubliner. https://twitter.com/ShaneLowryGolf/status/723167042921193472 But one line in the statement had a lot of people angry. https://twitter.com/Leahjth/status/723177885801013248 https://twitter.com/BitOfALegalGeek/status/723177907481268225