Conor McGregor says first fight since 2021 will be against influencer Logan Paul, not in UFC
Former UFC champion Conor McGregor says he has agreed to fight influencer Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India, delaying his return to mixed martial arts competition.
McGregor made the announcement early Tuesday on X.
“I am in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India. I have agreed,” McGregor wrote. “I will then seek my return to the Octagon.”
Paul, a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar and part-time boxer, acknowledged McGregor’s announcement in his Instagram Stories, with an eyeball emoji placed underneath a screenshot of McGregor’s X post. A zoomed-in image of both fighter’s likenesses — appearing to possibly be from a promotional poster for a fight — appears in the background.
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Paul’s brother, influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul, wrote on X that McGregor had been “desperately” trying to set up a fight with him.
“Conor is washed. Needs the Paul” brothers, wrote Jake Paul, whose recent unanimous-decision victory over Mike Tyson was watched live on Netflix by an estimated 108 million viewers in around 65 million households worldwide.
McGregor was the first UFC fighter to hold two belts — featherweight and lightweight — simultaneously. His last UFC fight was a loss by technical knockout to Dustin Poirier in 2021. McGregor was slated to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29 but the fight was canceled due to a McGregor foot injury.
In his X post, McGregor indicated that “rumors” that he’d be facing UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria “are false.”
Topuria wrote on X later Tuesday morning: “The rumors of bout with mchicken are false. I don’t fight nor am I interested in fighting with a rapist.”
Nina Agdal has filed a lawsuit and restraining order against her fiancee Logan Paul’s next boxing opponent, Dillon Danis, accusing Danis of ‘cyber harassment.’
Last month, a civil court jury in Ireland found McGregor liable for assault after a woman said he “brutally raped and battered” her in 2018. He was ordered to pay her $257,000. McGregor testified that he had consensual sex with the woman and never forced her to do anything against her will.
McGregor’s only bout as a professional boxer came in 2017, when he lost to one of the legends of the sport, Floyd Mayweather Jr., by technical knockout in the 10th round.
Paul has fought four times as a boxer, including a draw and a loss against fellow influencer-turned-boxer KSI in 2018 and 2019, a draw with Mayweather in 2021 and a win by disqualification over Dillon Danis in 2023.
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