Conor McGregor has dealt the UFC another blow after announcing his third retirement in the space of four years as he revealed: “I’m a bit bored of the game”.

The former featherweight and lightweight champion is unquestionably the biggest draw in mixed martial arts, having been a headliner in the UFC’s three highest grossing pay-per-views and five of the top six.

However, hot on the heels of light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones and welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal asking to be released from the UFC, McGregor unexpectedly called time on his career in the early hours of Sunday morning.

McGregor then crossed over into boxing and though he lost to five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather in August 2017, it was a bout that reportedly earned him in excess of 100million US dollars.

McGregor returned to the UFC the following year, losing to Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in a bout where the build-up and immediate aftermath was tarnished by a number of controversial flash points.

McGregor has also had a couple of brushes with the law during his time in UFC. In 2018, he was sentenced to five days of community service after video footage showed him attacking a bus containing UFC fighters, including Nurmagomedov, months before their showdown.

Last year, McGregor was fined 1,000 euros after pleading guilty to assaulting an older man in a pub in Dublin.