“It started to feel like a job” – Cathal Pendred explains reason for early retirement

You have to respect Cathal Pendred's honesty.

The former UFC fighter last week quit his sport in a shock move for Irish MMA fans, who had been enjoying the Dubliner's action inside the octagon in recent months. However after his devastating loss to Tom Breese, at UFC Dublin in October, Pendred was expected to take a lengthy break from the sport. And tonight the welterweight has revealed the reason behind his retirement announced just last Thursday. The 28-year admitted to the MMA Hour that he had just fallen out of love with MMA fighting over the last few months, which led to his announcement last week,

"The fire in my belly had dwindled a little bit." "It started to feel like a job. I have other passions that are coming to the forefront and just decided you can't half be in MMA. You'll get hurt if you just turn up for a pay cheque."

Pendred admits that the decision had not been easy, but the thought of retirement had crossed his mind months before his last professional loss last month,

"It's not like other professions where you can just train hard at the gym. It's a lifestyle, everything revolves around the sport. "If you don't do that right, I couldn't give all my time to it and I wouldn't be the best I could be. I was driving to the gym everyday and I wasn't excited about it. It was a hard thing to do."

There was several tributes paid to Pendred last week with his SBG team-mate Conor McGregor among those to say goodbye to the Boston-born fighter. Pendred admits that the message from The Notorious was a touching one,

"I got emotional about that one in particular. He summed everything there in what I've done. I'm very appreciative of it, I got a bit emotional. It was an incredibly nice thing for him to do."