‘Sparring Cubans’: Conor McGregor posts first ‘retirement’ pictures – and he’s keeping busy…

UFC megastar Conor McGregor might have announced his retirement from the fight game but the Irishman is showing no signs of putting his feet up, posting pictures of himself “sparring Cubans” in Miami.

McGregor rocked the sporting world with the announcement on Tuesday that he was calling time on his gilded MMA career.

Since then, speculation has swirled over whether ‘The Notorious’ was really hanging up his gloves, having similarly “retired” back in April 2016, only for it to turn out to be a carefully orchestrated bluff.

This time round, there is talk that the 30-year-old is merely using the retirement threat as a ploy for more negotiating leverage as he seeks a share in the UFC, or possibly even as a distraction from recent reports of sexual assault claims against the Irish star – which McGregor’s team has vehemently denied.

READ MORE: 'Absolutely false': McGregor spokesperson denies timing of retirement linked to rape allegations

Whatever the case, McGregor is not letting up with his training, sharing photos with his 30 million Instagram followers of himself "sparring Cubans" in Miami.

The Irishman donning the gloves against a nationality with such a fabled boxing pedigree prompted one social media user to speculate that while McGregor had purportedly quit MMA, he might not be done with the world of boxing, where he fought a money-spinning bout against Floyd Mayweather in 2017. 

"Retired from MMA, now the real boxing run happens. @floydmayweather run it back," the Instagram user wrote.  

McGregor is enjoying a sunshine break in Florida, and earlier in the week posted a picture of himself jet skiing outside rapper Puff Daddy’s Miami mansion, captioning the pic: “This is not my gaf, it’s Diddys. But I’ll take it for the gram.”

But the ostentatious Irishman’s time on the US East Coast has not been without controversy. He was arrested earlier in March for allegedly snatching and stomping on a fan’s telephone while he was trying to take a picture of McGregor leaving an exclusive local nightspot.

The MMA star was released the same night on a $12,500 bail bond.

His latest training pictures will fuel speculation that his “retirement” announcement was merely a calculated ploy, and that he is far from done in the fight game.