UFC News: Latest on Conor McGregor, Henry Cejudo and Jon Jones

With the dust barely settled on UFC 250, some of the organization's biggest stars are already making headlines as the news cycle keeps churning. 

Of course, the man who can turn the cycle with just one tweet is at it again. Conor McGregor announced another retirement after the conclusion of Saturday night's pay-per-view event: 

The Irishman has "retired" from mixed martial arts before. The first time he took to social media to announce his decision in 2016 and repeated it in 2019. Neither of those retirements stuck, though, as he fought Nate Diaz four months after the first "retirement" and Donald Cerrone nine months after his second. 

The former two-division champion's explanation of his retirement sounds much more like a negotiation tactic than it does an actual farewell to the sport. McGregor cites a lack of interest in the current landscape for his decision. 

"The game just does not excite me, and that's that," he said, per Ariel Helwani of ESPN. "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."

The 31-year-old made waves after UFC 249 when he went on a rant and played matchmaker for the lightweight division. In his plan, he was interested in fighting Justin Gaethje and suggested Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier fight while sneaking in some barbs at rival Khabib Nurmagomedov. 

In his interview with Helwani, McGregor expressed frustration over the holdup in the division. The anticipated title fight between Gaethje and Nurmagomedov has yet to be scheduled. 

In related news, Floyd Mayweather Jr. took a shot at McGregor. He posted on his Instagram that, "if you decide to come back, I'll be waiting to punish you again," per Chamatkar Sandhu of  BT Sport. 

Both McGregor and Mayweather are masters of the fight promotion business. Both are also great at dancing around actual fighting and building up hype. There's a reason why they are the biggest draws in their respective sports. 

A rematch in the boxing ring could be brewing, but this seems more like Mayweather having some fun and McGregor gaining leverage to negotiate a comeback fight down the line. 

Cejudo Calls Out Volkanovski

Speaking of dubious retirements, it didn't take Henry Cejudo long to leave the door open for a return to the Octagon. 

Triple C didn't even make it a month from his surprise retirement on May 9 before talking about a comeback. The former Olympic gold medalist told TMZ he would be willing to come back to go for his third UFC title in a fight with Alexander Volkanovski. 

"I want a third title because I want to be different," Cejudo said. "To go into the history books as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time."

The 33-year-old is one of just four fighters to simultaneously hold belts in two different weight classes. Should he come back and beat Volkanovski, he would be the first to win a belt in three different divisions. 

That would be a tall task for the former flyweight champion. Not only would he be at a significant size disadvantage at 5'4" and a 64-inch reach against the 5'6" Australian with the 71-inch reach, but Volkanovski has also already beaten some great featherweights including Max Holloway, Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. 

Cejudo is a great fighter who has had a Hall of Fame career. While this would ostensibly be a nice payday and the shot to sell more pay-per-views than he's ever managed, this isn't a fight he would be favored in. 

Jones Continues to Talk Hiatus

Jon Jones and the UFC haven't been on great terms recently. 

In May, he began tweeting about the possibility of moving up to heavyweight to fight Francis Ngannou (h/t Yahoo Sports). However, the idea was quickly nixed by Bones because, by his account, the UFC wasn't willing to pay him more to move up another weight class. 

The 32-year-old has never fought at heavyweight before and wants to be compensated more to take on the extra risk. 

Jones ultimately backed away from the negotiations for the heavyweight move entirely, lamenting that the UFC didn't see his value and let Jan Blachowicz know he would be his next opponent. 

Now Bones is speaking a different message as he amplifies his concern over fighter pay. On Monday, he hinted he might be taking an extended period of time off and hopes it will help other fighters in their quest to be compensated more. 

That was just one tweet in a long string of tweets about how much money the UFC has paid him throughout his career. It goes along with a theme in the UFC right now as Jorge Masvidal also took to social media to speak out about the way the organization does business. 

The outpouring of concern from some of the sport's top stars is a developing story that only appears to be getting bigger. Jones is the most dominant fighter with the company, Masvidal has risen to a new level of celebrity over the last few years, and McGregor is obviously angling for higher pay as well with his "retirement." 

This isn't likely to go away anytime soon whether Jones actually does sit out or not.