Conor McGregor drew inspiration from the upcoming Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight as the Irishman believes that he will never truly retire from fighting.
Being away from the octagon for three years now, The Notorious is aiming for a comeback in a blockbuster fight against Michael Chandler but UFC boss Dana White is yet to confirm the fight.
His absence from UFC allowed McGregor to enter Hollywood and he has already starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in a movie called “Road House”.
McGregor believes that if he is no longer able to compete in the sport, he will “recalibrate his competition” rather than calling time on his career as he aims to be like Tyson, who will take on Paul, who is 30 years younger than him.
“Look at Mike Tyson now, he’s fighting Jake Paul,” McGregor told TNT Sports. "He fought Roy Jones also. So, there you go, that’s an older guy.
"When he was fighting Roy Jones Jr., something that really stuck out to me was [that Mike Tyson] was asked — Roy Jones, also an aged guy, retired for so long — ‘Why?’ Recalibrate your competition.
“There’s a reason that in jiu-jitsu tournaments there’s like the veteran division and all this. So, I don’t really feel like I could ever call it a day to it until I’m laid out flat, and that’s it. In a box and going down into the ground – that’s when I’ll call it a day.”
“I’m not going to be 40-odd and looking at the 19-year-old wonder kid from f****** wherever he’s from, even though they might be calling me out.”
McGregor insisted that there would still be exciting fights for him against people of his age and if the fans wished to see him fight, he would do all he could.
“Look at all my potential opponents I have,” he added. “I have gangs of opponents, literally, that I have history with. Trilogies, secondary fights, fresh fights even. These are all similar ages to me.
“So, if these people are similar age to me, and I have an audience’s interest, which I do, who’s to say these fights won’t take place whenever they’ll take place? Do you get me? It’s to the grave, my man.”