Last week, Conor McGregor sent the global combat sports community into a frenzy when he claimed that ‘preliminary agreements’ were in place for a boxing match against Logan Paul.
Yet between his current UFC contract, which is rumored to include two more fights, in addition to his stake in the Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship, there’ll likely be several roadblocks in place that’ll stop that bout from being signed.
Former rival believes the UFC won’t make it an ‘easy exit’ for Conor McGregor
Despite still being contracted to the UFC, Conor McGregor has claimed that he’s currently in negotiations to fight Logan Paul in the boxing ring in 2025.
“I am in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India, I have agreed,” wrote McGregor on X earlier this month, teasing “I will then seek my return to the Octagon” after receiving what would be a ‘career-high purse’.
“#BiggestGenerator #KingofNumbers #Streams #PPV I hold every record and I am coming back to KO this novice and rack in more numbers for the company. #StockMarketIndia #MyHighestPayPacketYet #Thanksforthecheese,”
Whilst there is certainly no shortage of skepticism as to whether that claim is actually legitimate, former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez believes that there’s simply no way that the UFC would let McGregor ply his trade elsewhere.
“Realistically, I think he has two fights still left on his UFC contract and I just know how difficult that is [to get out of a signed contract] – especially when you are really that valuable to a company.
“I haven’t been as valuable as Conor but back when I was Bellator’s main guy, I know how difficult it is to get out of them contracts [and] they don’t make it easy.”
Simply put, the popular veteran doesn’t believe that the UFC would allow McGregor the opportunity to fight elsewhere (or at least fight in a different sport) considering that time is already of the essence.
“And for him, making a company hundreds of millions of dollars, I don’t think that it’ll be an easy exit… I think he still has them two more fights in the UFC, and I don’t know how old Conor is but he’s not getting any younger.
“It’s going to be hard for him to fight those fights and then move on to another contract.”
Alvarez famously lost his UFC lightweight title to McGregor back at UFC 205 in November 2016, ‘The Underground King’ then competed in ONE Championship before signing to BKFC in 2023.
Regarding a potential fight under the Bre-Knuckle banner, of which McGregor is a part-owner, Alvarez argued that such a move would likely be a final farewell: “Realistically, I don’t think that he fights BKFC and if he does, it’ll be when he’s older.”
Conor McGregor threatens to cancel multi-million-dollar deal with DAZN
Aside from fuelling speculation over a potential boxing match against Logan Paul, McGregor has also been in the news after threatening to cancel BKFC’s multi-million-dollar deal with DAZN.
As Notorious watched the BKFC Hollywood on December 21, the Irishman was furious at the broadcast moving so quickly that none of the winners were given post-fight interviews.
“DAZN I DONT GIVE A F***,” McGregor tweeted. “IF YOU DONT GET OUR WINNERS ON THE MIC WE ARE DONE!”
McGregor has been backed in the dispute by former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub, who stated that “something has got to give” regarding the time needed for post-fight interviews vs the pacing of broadcast events.
“Maybe it’s a time constraint thing on the broadcast… It’s like, ‘We just can’t, dude. They gave us this short amount of time’. So, it’s we interview the winner and have less fights, but something has got to give here.”