Conor McGregor claims he had every intention of squaring off against WWE star and social media influencer, Logan Paul, in a exhibition boxing match this year but that the idea was shut down by the UFC.
During an interview with MMA personality The Schmo earlier this week, McGregor revealed the bout would have been held in India but there was an apparent lack of interest.
“It is what it is,” McGregor told The Schmo, via ESPN. “The UFC just aren’t into it. The offer was there on the table, in writing. Both athletes will say, ‘He’s not fighting,’ but both [the UFC and WWE] are under the [TKO Group Holdings] banner. UFC and WWE, both rising up. The stock price of TKO Holdings is through the roof. New market in India has opened up and is booming. It was business savvy and business sense to make the fight happen.
“In between this waiting period that we find ourselves in before I can get back to the Octagon, it made perfect sense on the calendar to go ahead with it. The UFC weren’t into it. The WWE, I’m not sure what their interest in it was.”
McGregor and the Paul brothers, Logan and Jake, have gone back-and-forth for months but nothing official has ever materialized. There have been rumors of a WWE appearance by McGregor but like the fight in India, it has all led to a dead-end.
After the boxing match was apparently scrapped by the UFC, Logan announced that he would return to the WWE full-time and focus his full effort on that career. McGregor, meanwhile, continues to insists he will fight again some day. He hasn’t stepped into the Octagon since suffering a broken leg against Dustin Poirier in 2021.
A return nearly happened at UFC 303, but McGregor ultimately withdrew from a fight against Michael Chandler due to a broken toe.
