Sports

/

ArcaMax

Conor McGregor says first fight since 2021 will be against influencer Logan Paul, not in UFC

Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times on

Published in Boxing

Former UFC champion Conor McGregor says he has agreed to fight influencer Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India.

McGregor made the announcement early Tuesday morning 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, has yet to comment publicly on McGregor's statement. Attempts to reach Paul through WWE and his representatives were unsuccessful.

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."

 

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.

Paul's brother, Jake Paul, is an influencer who has become a successful boxer. His 11-1 record includes a recent unanimous-decision victory over Mike Tyson in a bout that was shown live on Netflix and watched live by an estimated 108 million viewers in around 65 million households worldwide.

____


©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus