Conor McGregor wants to do anything but fight in the UFC.
The embattled UFC superstar posted on social media that he has agreed to box YouTuber Logan Paul in an exhibition gimmick match in India in 2025.
“The rumors of a bout with [Ilia] topurio (sic) are false,” McGregor said in a social media post. “I am in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India. I have agreed. I will then seek my return to the Octagon.”
Topuria is the UFC’s featherweight champion and has had beef with McGregor on social media.
“The rumors of bout with mchicken are false. I don’t fight nor am I interested in fighting with a rapist,” Topuria wrote on X, referencing a civil lawsuit McGregor recently lost.
McGregor previously pulled out of a fight in July against Michael Chandler on just 10 days’ notice with a broken toe.
He hasn’t fought in the UFC since July 2021 when he gruesomely snapped his tibia in a loss to Dustin Poirier.
McGregor surely stands to make an insane amount of money on the proposed boxing match, but fans should keep expectations in check for the level of excitement the fight will bring.
In his prime, the 5-foot-9 McGregor was a UFC champion at 145 pounds.
At 6-foot-2, Paul weighed in at 189.5 pounds when he boxed 44-year-old Floyd Mayweather to a draw in 2021.
McGregor also boxed Mayweather, a TKO loss in round 10 in 2017.
McGregor may run into some issues setting up the event. No fighter has ever boxed outside of the UFC without having it as a co-promoter.
The UFC also let Francis Ngannou walk from the promotion due to contract disagreements when he wanted to box Tyson Fury in 2023, which he did but without any involvement from his now-former employer.
Ngannou now fights for the PFL.
McGregor and the UFC surely weren’t on the best of terms prior to this unconfirmed fight announcement involving Paul.
McGregor is currently planning to appeal a civil lawsuit after a jury found him liable in a case in which Irish woman Nikita Hand accused him of raping her.
McGregor vehemently denies that anything non-consensual happened during the exchange.
He has just two fights left on his deal with the UFC at which point the 36-year-old will be a free agent in the combat sports world if he is left unsigned by Dana White’s promotion.
