Earlier this month, UFC president Dana White claimed that he wasn’t worried about Conor McGregor retiring after a potential boxing megafight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I saw a quote the other day from a guy from Showtime who said that I’m stalling the thing [Mayweather vs. McGregor] because I’m worried that McGregor will retire after this fight, which is completely false and not even close to being true,” White told TMZ.
This week on GGN News with Snoop Dogg, however, the long time MMA promoter acknowledged that ‘The Notorious’ could walk away from combat sports altogether after making mega money against Floyd.
“If this things goes down, Conor could make anywhere between $60 and $70 million; and what I think happens is, how do you come back again and fight for $10 million bucks?” White told Snoop Dogg (h/t Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania).
“He’s a smart kid, but he may never fight again. In the fight business, you have to be hungry, man. It’s hard to get up and get punched in the face when you got $75 million in the bank. I think he is hungry for Mayweather and hungry for the money and Conor loves to prove people wrong.”
The bout is still up in the air, but UFC lightweight champion McGregor claims to have signed his end of the contract. The 28-year-old also recently applied for a boxing license in the state of Nevada.
McGregor is clearly motivated by money, but the SBG Ireland product also has a healthy obsession with mixed martial arts and has spoken of his desire to complete a trilogy bout with Stockton brawler Nate Diaz.
Diaz, 32, is the only fighter to beat McGregor under the UFC banner, choking out the former Cage Warriors featherweight and lightweight champ at UFC 196 but losing via majority decision in the epic rematch at UFC 202.
While McGregor claims to have signed a ‘historic’ deal for the Mayweather bout, ‘Money’ has yet to sign his end of the bargain but is optimistic about negotiations, telling reporters in the UK that he’s getting ready to book ‘another superfight’.
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