Conor McGregor‘s MMA comeback will have to wait a little longer as the former two-weight UFC champion announced that his next fight would be inside the boxing ring.
His next opponent?
Logan Paul, his bitter rival Jake Paul‘s older brother.
McGregor dropped the bombshell on Tuesday, December 17, on social media platform X as he denied rumors he would fight current UFC featherweight champion Illia Topuria.
“The rumors of a bout with Topuria are false. I am in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India. I have agreed. I will then seek my return to the Octagon,” McGregor wrote in a post on X on December 17.
The Ambani family is headed by its patriarch Mukesh Ambani, who is currently the 18th richest man in the world with a $98.3 billion net worth, according to Forbes’s real-time “Billionaires List.”
McGregor opting for the exhibition boxing match rather than an MMA comeback makes more sense financially after the fallout of the guilty verdict by a civil jury on his sexual assault case.
Dublin’s High Court ordered McGregor to pay 248,000 euros ($257,000) to Nikita Hand, the complainant who publicly came forward.
The guilty verdict took a substantial hit on McGregor’s bank account as several companies led by Irish whiskey brand Proper No. 12 dropped him as their endorser.
McGregor earned his biggest payday not in the octagon but inside the boxing ring when he fought Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition boxing match, which netted him more than $100 million.
Conor McGregor-Jake Paul World War
Jake Paul took a shot at McGregor following the guilty verdict on the sexual assault charges against the former two-weight UFC champion in a civil lawsuit.
“Dana [White] hits his wife. Conor’s convicted of rape. But I’m the bad guy?” Paul wrote in a post on X that has been deleted after facing backlash for his “tone-deaf” reaction.
McGregor did not take Paul’s mocking remark lightly.
“No, you’re a little gay nerd,” McGregor replied on the thread before it was deleted.
Conor McGregor responds to Jake Paul…
(h/t @MichaelBensonn) #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/eNuIFj6Tly
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 22, 2024
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McGregor will not be convicted since it was only a civil lawsuit. No criminal charges were filed as prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence and a conviction was unlikely, according to the Associated Press.
McGregor will appeal the case, he announced on X.
Another Slight on Jake Paul
Paul had been chasing a fight against McGregor for quite some time now. But the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion is not keen on fighting the social media star-turned-fighter.
Following Paul’s unanimous decision win over 58-year-old Mike Tyson on Nov. 15, Paul called out McGregor.
“Dear Conor, I know you told my team you would fight me at 170lbs. That’s never happening. But let’s run it in MMA. No weight class. Just like how it used to be done. But you won’t,” Paul wrote on X.
McGregor quickly responded, mocking Paul’s record of fighting over-the-hill fighters.
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