Conor McGregor didn’t fight at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House on Sunday, yet the former two-division champion still made headlines for a social media back-and-forth with boxing legend Terence Crawford.
After Ilia Topuria’s stunning loss to Justin Gaethje, Crawford — who was in attendance Sunday — took to social media to mock Topuria. The now-former UFC champ had said during his lightweight title reign that he eventually wanted to compete in crossover boxing matches, expressing his confidence in beating opponents like Crawford.
McGregor promptly clapped back with a series of posts in defense of Topuria, calling Crawford afraid to compete in MMA. He explained in-studio on Tuesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show” why Crawford’s comments bothered him so much. He also revealed past discussions for a wild two-fight deal to potentially face Crawford two years ago.
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“He shouldn’t have kicked a man when he was down, especially when you’re ringside,” McGregor told Uncrowned. “If you’re ringside and you’re afforded that opportunity, I just found it a bit distasteful.
“I like Terence. He’s a great boxer. I’m on the call [two years ago] — Turki [Alalshikh] has me at his Ring [boxing event]. I’m in this suite with Turki and every gang of these people. Lovely fellas. Stressed. Unusual. They’re their own group. They’re actually great, and I know they don’t drink and all, and he said, ‘Well, have a drink.’ … But anyway, they’re presenting bout opportunities, and then the Terence Crawford offer came up.
“Two-fight deal. They were saying maybe boxer versus — listen, lads, I’ve done the boxing. They have to come to me now. I’ll do the boxing [fight] after. So we just worked out of a two-fight deal — mixed martial arts first with Terence and boxing after. I said, ‘He’s not going to accept it.’ I hope he accepts it. He can f***ing wrestle. Maybe we’ll have to wait for [Crawford’s] son to do it. Maybe his son will have the f***ing courage to do it.”
According to McGregor, the potential two-fight series would have resulted in $200 million for him and Crawford. When he and Alalshikh called Crawford with the proposal, the boxing pound-for-pound great declined with a simple answer, McGregor said.
“‘I don’t want to be kicked by you, no way.’”
“I says, ‘My man, we can box the f***ing few months later. What’s the craic, come on? You’re mad, you can wrestle.’ And he just didn’t want to,” McGregor said of Crawford. “So whatever, that’s fine, that’s his own thing. I don’t know how you couldn’t. I don’t know how, as a man or as a combatant, you couldn’t want to test yourself. I’m yearning to get into the bare-knuckle [boxing] to test myself. As a fighter, I want to test myself.
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“This bubble that a lot of these people are in, this little protected bubble, I’d slap the head off every single one of them easily,” McGregor continued, referring to boxers. “No matter the weight, heavyweight and all. I’d slap them around. So it started to irk me a little bit, and then he said that about [Topuria] — and it was in a mixed martial arts bout. That wasn’t a boxing bout. Cupped the back of the head, cracked ’em with a few elbows, a few uppercuts, kicks low, kicks high. It was a mixed martial arts bout that knocked [Topuria] out that beat him bad. It wasn’t a boxing bout. And the fact that the guy was ringside, I didn’t like it. And I came in as the daddy of the game and let it be known. That’s it.”
Any final chances of McGregor and Crawford meeting in any combat capacity seemingly ended when Crawford, 38, retired from boxing last year. After a big underdog victory over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Netflix, Crawford called it a career with a spotless 42-0 record.
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Meanwhile, McGregor, 37, is gearing up to make his own return to MMA after five years away from competition. He’ll battle Max Holloway at UFC 329 on July 11 in Las Vegas.
Like Crawford, McGregor was heavily interested in the action at UFC Freedom 250. The former featherweight and lightweight champion shared his thoughts on the latest title fight in his old division, and noted how he wasn’t surprised to see the big Gaethje upset.
“I knew what was going to happen to him,” McGregor said. “Just seeing the [training Topuria was doing] and that lot. You need to have it put on you in the gym. If you’re not getting it put on you in the gym — I’ve been there myself, people. You have to kind of say, ‘Listen, here’s a thousand dollars cash outside the Octagon if you can drop me. If you drop me, you get that thousand dollars cash.’ It’s the type of stuff you need to be doing. You need the guys coming at you. [I do that] to an extent. You need a bit of both, but there was too much the other way [of Topuria surrounding himself with yes men]. Walking forward with their hands down on the opening bell, you’re going to get walloped.
Justin Gaethje stunned Ilia Topuria to become the new UFC lightweight champion.
(Jeff Bottari via Getty Images)
“He’s a bit flat-footed, he has his areas, he’s not fully complete,” McGregor added of Topuria. “He’s not a full complete fighter, but he’s good. He can make inroads; his face will have to heal, for sure. His face, I’d say, is smashed up.”
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McGregor’s Holloway fight will be at welterweight, yet he still has eyes on the idea of challenging for UFC gold one final time.
If that comes against the new champion Gaethje, McGregor likes his chances.
“I think Gaethje, when he’s on, he’s good. He’s OK,” McGregor said. “But when he’s off, he’s atrocious. I fancy [beating] him handily — I fancy teeing off on Gaethje.”
