Conor McGregor will hopefully fight by the end of 2022 or in early 2023, but heāll return in the UFC and not a rumored rematch against Floyd Mayweather.
Thatās according to UFC president Dana White, who scoffed at reports stating McGregor was in talks for a second boxing match against Mayweather after they first met back in 2017. To be fair, White also denied the first McGregor vs. Mayweather fight would ever happen until it was eventually signed but he seems adamant that the Irish superstar would be competing in mixed martial arts not in boxing.
āNot me, Iām not talking about that,ā White said with a laugh when asked about the McGregor vs. Mayweather 2 rumors on The Jim Rome Show on Monday. ā[Conorās return] will be in the cage. Conorās looking to come back the end of this year, early next year.ā
McGregor has been training hard to return from a broken leg suffered in his last appearance in the UFC where he fell to Dustin Poirier for the second time in July 2021.
Immediately after the fight, McGregor was rushed into surgery to repair the damage done to his leg but the severity of the broken leg was expected to keep him sidelined for at least the next year.
While McGregor has teased interest in boxing again before his combat sports career is over, White is confident that his next fight will take place in the UFC and thereās no doubt heās hungry to return. Add to that, Mayweather, who is currently booking exhibition bouts after retiring following the first fight with McGregor, already has his next matchup booked as part of a RIZIN card scheduled in Japan in September.
āWhen I do talk to Conor, Conor wants to fight,ā White said. āConor gets all kinds of offers for movie roles and all these other things that he could go and do and make money. He doesnāt want to do any of that. Conor wants to fight.ā
As far as McGregor still being motivated enough to compete again considering heās far and away the biggest earning fighter in UFC history while also making significant income from the sale of his whiskey brand this past year, White doesnāt believe thatās really an issue right now.
White knows McGregor loves making money but heās also still very passionate about fighting and thankfully those two things go hand-in-hand whenever the former two-division UFC champion competes.
āHe does both,ā White said. āWhen he fights, he gets paid. Fighting is what he wants to do.ā
LMAO, McGregor hasnāt been passionate about fighting in years.
Imagine if Floyd fought serious from the very start this time. Heād finish Conman within 4 rounds
He wouldnāt beat even Nate in a straight up boxing match let alone Floyd
Give us the trilogy
I donāt think Conor ever fights again
$$$ and some more $$$$
kerrect
Conor McGregor has shut down talks of a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. after āMoneyā teased a second fight with āThe Notoriousā in 2023.
McGregor, the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, posted ānot interestedā in a since-deleted Instagram post (h/t The Mirror) that included a picture of his first fight with Mayweather in 2017.
McGregor lost to Mayweather via 10th-round TKO in a boxing match that generated over 4.3 million pay-per-view buys and saw both fighters walk away with a combined $410 million fight purse, marking one of the biggest fights in combat sports history.
Mayweather, 50-0, returned to the boxing ring on Saturday for an exhibition bout with Japanese MMA fighter Mikuri Asakura. He won the match via second-round TKO. The boxing legend is scheduled for another exhibition match on Nov. 13 against British YouTube star Deji Olatunji, brother of KSI.
McGregor hasnāt fought since he suffered a broken leg in his first-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, with the Irishman expected to return to the Octagon sometime early next year, possibly at 170.
Conor is done as a legit title fighter. Heās a novelty now.
fo sure
This is the best thing that everyone involved could do. Floyd, Connor would make huge $ again. UFC would make huge money on co-promotion. Itās not best for the UFC in the long term though. One thing boxing knows how to do is milk the careers of their old names and the ufc model is not set up for that. You could put Mike Tyson on a headliner card vs a cab driver tomorrow and sell out msg. If they used Connor as a special attraction type fighter vs some softer touches, they would sell shit loads of tickets and keep the gravy train rolling. Casuals donāt care about title fights. They buy ppvs for names.