Conor McGregor has long teased his interest in returning to boxing, and it appears that may end up taking priority over his next fight in the UFC.
Early Tuesday morning, the former two-division champion took to Twitter to reveal plans for his future while shooting down rumors that he was potentially going to face current UFC featherweight king Ilia Topuria in his return to action. McGregor hasn’t fought since July 2021 when he suffered a gruesome broken leg in a trilogy with Dustin Poirier.
While the Topuria fight isn’t happening, McGregor then claimed he’s actually in talks for a boxing exhibition against social influencer and WWE superstar Logan Paul.
“The rumors of a bout with [Topuria] are false,” McGregor wrote on Twitter. “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.”
Mukesh Ambani is the head of Reliance Industries and one of the richest men in the world with a net worth at $96.7 billion. His company does business in numerous sectors including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, entertainment, telecommunications and much more.
While Ambani’s business interests reach far and wide across India, he doesn’t have a history promoting boxing but his company does have plenty of ties to the entertainment industry. This past July, his family made international headlines for the wedding of his son Anant and Radhika Merchant. Reports estimated the wedding could have cost up to $1 billion with high-profile entertainers such as Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Pitbull, Shahrukh Khan, and Deepika Padukone brought in as part of the festivities.
As for the fight itself, Paul and McGregor have traded shots publicly in the past.
Back in 2023, McGregor said he would “slap the nose” off Paul as he was preparing to face the Irish superstar’s longtime friend and training partner Dillon Danis in a boxing match. In return, Paul fired back saying, “I’d like to see him attempt to slap the nose off my face.”
Paul then continued by taking shots at McGregor’s fighting career.
“Conor McGregor is an average MMA fighter and a horrible boxer,” Paul said. “I’m gonna beat the shit out of his b*tch Dillon, and then I’m gonna beat the shit out of him.”
Paul’s younger brother Jake Paul pursued a fight against McGregor for years but usually also took aim at his inability to just do whatever he wanted because of an exclusive contract in place with the UFC. Fighters under UFC contract are not allowed to pursue bouts outside the promotion without permission.
Now McGregor is claiming that he’s setting up a boxing exhibition with Logan Paul, although it remains to be seen if this actual matchup comes to fruition or not.
