McGregor wants MMA fight next
NEW YORK — Mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor, touted as a potential opponent for Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, has indicated he wants his next bout to be a return to the octagon rather than the ring.
Caught on video by celebrity news site TMZ while out and about in New York, McGregor was asked about Pacquiao’s announcement last week that he had opened talks to fight McGregor.
“I think a true fight is what I want to do next,” McGregor said in the video posted online on Saturday. “MMA next.”
There had been talk of a McGregor-Manny Pacquiao fight, but that talk quickly ended when UFC president Dana White threatened to sue Pacquiao, according to ESPN. McGregor remains under contract with the UFC.
Ireland’s McGregor hasn’t fought at all since losing to unbeaten Floyd Mayweather by a 10th-round technical knockout in their much-hyped boxing bout in Las Vegas in August.
Broadcaster Showtime released final figures on Friday showing the cross-combat superfight drew the secondmost North American payper-view buys in history with 4.3 million.
Only one other fight — Mayweather’s 2015 clash with Pacquiao — has ever drawn more, racking up 4.6 million payper-view buys.
Showtime said in a statement that global revenues, including ticket sales, sponsorship and international distribution, for Mayweather-McGregor had exceeded $600 million.
McGregor scoffed at the idea of performing in wrestling’s WWE, using an expletive to let the world know that he wouldn’t be following in Ronda Rousey’s footsteps.