It’s been a frenzied few weeks regarding the story that former UFC champion Conor McGregor could end up boxing social media star Logan Paul in 2025.
Whilst ‘Notorious’ continues to push the narrative that he’s in for a truly enormous payday, there are plenty of combat sports experts who are pushing back on the story as a whole.
Chael Sonnen doubles down on McGregor vs Paul being a ‘scam’
After initially claiming that ‘preliminary agreements’ were in place for a boxing match against Logan Paul in India, things have slowly started to unravel for Conor McGregor.
This, after the former UFC double champion re-shared a fake post from a self-confessed troll social media account that claimed the bout could generate each fighter around $250 million, and take place in Mumbai, India.
UFC legend Chael Sonnen first stated via his YouTube channel that “not a single word was true” regarding the rumored fight and during a conversation with UFC star Bo Nickal, doubled down on that take.
“What a scam – the whole thing is flawed… First off, it’s not Saudi Arabia, it’s India; for some Indian billionaire who wants to bring tourism to the country [when] India is the most populated country in the world, like it is just fake.
“But let me tell you one thing that a rich guy hates, if you are a really rich guy, it actually pains them and keeps them up at night to not have their fame – a guy that rich wants his credit for it.
“And the reason I tell you that is the way Conor tells this story, there’s some rich billionaire who’s going to cut a check for $250 million – first off, nobody is cutting a check for $250 million when the going rate of the market is $8 million.”
That number comes from when the UFC offered then-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones approximately $8 million to fight the then-heavyweight king Francis Ngannou – Jones is now reportedly demanding more than $30 million to face Aspinall.
“One of the great lies in sport that got told and repeated, was the alleged payouts of Floyd Mayweather – none of which were true… And that includes the fight with Conor McGregor where they both got $125 million, that’s not true – but one simple follow-up question would kill that dead in its tracks, is ‘Who wrote the check?’”
Sonnen’s argument, however humorous it may be, is a rather simple one; if there’s a backer willing to put down over 10x the market value, there’d be an obvious paper trail from contract to contractor.
“When guys write checks that big, they find a way to make sure that the media knows they wrote it, they have somebody film it, it’s an entire thing, and one of the dumbest lies that has not yet needed to be told.
“But Conor is now workshopping $250 million to box a non-boxer, at a weight class that doesn’t exist, in a promotion that they’re yet to identify for a guy who apparently doesn’t have a name.”
“The whole thing is ridiculous,” continued Sonnen, who then lamented the fact that the potential rematch in MMA between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou has been dismissed as nonsensical, whilst this story garners the headlines.
“Tyson Fury is saying that he would like to go and do MMA and he’s been laughed at. People are expecting that [it’s true if] there’s a headline about Conor and then right under that there’s one about Tyson Fury – but Tyson Fury’s is actually possible.
“I believe he would actually fight Francis Ngannou if somebody came up with the money. I believe that he probably would flinch at the last second, but I think that there is a discussion to be had… That story got completely dismissed for the Conor vs Logan story, who are both under contract with TKO – Logan on the WWE side and Conor on the UFC side.
“The whole story is absurd.”