- Conor McGregor has had a tumultuous time as of late, as he has had legal issues, causing sponsors to drop him.
- McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021, and his fight with Michael Chandler was cancelled.
- McGregor is now putting his UFC return on hold to box Logan Paul in India.
The last few years have been hard on Conor McGregor. While he did have a role in the “Road House” reboot, the Irish MMA star has been in and out of legal trouble many times. He also hasn’t fought in more than three years, and his last two fights resulted in losses.
Now, it seems McGregor will return to action, potentially in 2025, but it won’t be in the UFC octagon. He has reportedly agreed to a boxing match against Logan Paul in India.
McGregor Denies Ilia Topuria Fight, Instead Aiming for Logan Paul
The news of McGregor’s alleged return to the boxing ring has been reported by several outlets, but it came straight from McGregor’s X account.
McGregor has been called out by numerous UFC fighters, as they know it constitutes a tremendous payday. Regardless of how his career has gone, the former two-division champion is still the biggest draw in the UFC. That is why Michael Chandler waited a year and a half to fight McGregor, but their UFC 303 fight was cancelled due to a McGregor foot injury. Chandler would go on to lose to Charles Oliveira for a second time at UFC 309 in November 2024.
He was also called out by current featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who was referenced in the tweet.
Now, McGregor will switch attention to Logan Paul, the older brother of Jake Paul. Like his brother, Paul is a YouTuber who has boxed before, but he’s been more successful in WWE. The older Paul brother has surprised many with his wrestling skill, and he has held the WWE United States Championship.
The 29-year-old is also a fantastic self-promoter, much like McGregor. He showed this ahead of his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in June 2021. It was an exhibition match that wasn’t scored, but Mayweather easily handled the much bigger Paul. But more importantly, the fight was reported to have sold over one million pay-per-view buys.
Paul lost to fellow YouTuber KSI by split decision in November 2019, and defeated MMA fighter Dillon Danis, an associate of McGregor’s, by disqualification in October 2023. Danis was disqualified when he was losing the fight in the sixth round, and attempted a takedown and a choke.
Logan Paul hasn’t responded to McGregor’s tweet as of Tuesday morning, December 17.
Will This Help McGregor’s Career?
It all depends on what McGregor wants, in terms of this helping his career. The match will likely be an exhibition match, which means it won’t be scored. McGregor has also fought Mayweather, losing to him by TKO in the tenth round of a sanctioned, professional boxing match. McGregor started quickly, but like the Paul fight, Mayweather controlled it until he wanted to end it.
But McGregor might need the money sooner than later. The 36-year-old has lost numerous sponsorships since he was found liable in a civil suit in Dublin, stemming from an alleged sexual assault. McGregor is appealing the decision, and there are no criminal charges, but sponsors would rather not be around that sort of attention. This has followed McGregor for years now.
A fight with Logan Paul will result in a massive payday, likely more than any UFC fight could give him right now, so that seems to be the plan with McGregor. There are no odds at boxing betting sites just yet, so keep an eye out for them.
