Conor McGregor News

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 219, Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up yet another dominant win, violating the dangerous Edson Barboza for three, brutal rounds, and ultimately capturing a clear unanimous decision. With this win, Nurmagomedov is now an unbelievable 25-0 overall. More importantly, he is the clear-cut, undeniable number-one-contender at lightweight, whether we’re discussing challengers for Conor McGregor‘s undisputed lightweight title or Tony Ferguson’s interim lightweight title. In fact, the three lightweight stars would now seem to have one of the most gripping three-way rivalries in the history of MMA. To commemorate this awesome lightweight rivalry, acclaimed graphic artist BossLogic has created an epic poster that pays tribute to all three fighters. See it below:

Justin Golightly - December 28, 2017

Dana White has been making the rounds today and everyone wants to know about Conor McGregor. Going into 2018, his future in the UFC is completely unclear. On a mission to clear that up, White put his foot down and said that if McGregor does return, he’ll be defending his title against Tony Ferguson. Title defense criticisms have been what man fans target, as well as Ferguson in his ‘defend or vacate’ campaign, but White recently has said those critiques are completely overblown. “For people to suggest that [Conor McGregor be stripped of his UFC lightweight title], you’re just a Conor hater. Because if you look at how everything played out, Conor has fought everybody. When he won the 155-pound belt, he dropped the 145-pound belt, which we made him do. He tried not to do it, but he contractually had to let go of the 145-pound belt. He became the 155-pound champion, and his next fight was against Floyd Mayweather. He has to defend the title now. So, how has he never defended the title?”

Russell Ess - December 28, 2017

Whether you liked it or not, there is no denying that the big-money boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor had people’s attention. The fight ended up being the second highest pay-per-view event in history falling right behind and quite close to the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight. The artwork of both Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather has gotten quite a bit of exposure as fans have had so much interest in both fighters. McGregor had a mural painted in his gym of him landing a punch on Mayweather’s face. Mayweather went a bit further and had two big portrait paintings of himself and McGregor installed in his house after the fight. Interestingly, it was revealed by MMA journalist Chamatkar Sandhu that similar to McGregor, Mayweather also had McGregor’s face in his gym. However, this work of art had a bit more practical use than McGregor’s gym mural.

Justin Golightly - December 28, 2017

One of 2018’s biggest MMA mysteries is if Conor McGregor will return to MMA and who would he fight. Titles, contracts, it doesn’t matter, McGregor can decide whatever he wants to do and that’s one of the things that makes him so compelling, yet so frustrating. Out of nowhere, Dana White popped onto FS1 this afternoon and opened up about Conor McGregor. While has seems to have no idea what his plans are either, he did say that if he returns to the UFC, he has to defend his belt. Whether that be against Tony Ferguson, or whoever may beat him for the interim title depending on how long it takes McGregor to return. “If Conor McGregor fights next year, that’ll be awesome. If Conor McGregor doesn’t fight, the UFC will go on. […] There’s two different sides to this coin, there’s the one that you just said [about it being hard to wake up in the morning and get hit in the face when you’re so rich], then there’s the one where there is only many trips you can go on and there’s only so much stuff you can buy before you start to get bored and you want to get back in the game. So, I don’t know. I don’t really have a feel on what Conor wants to do. Conor’s rich, it’s the holidays, I’m sure his whole family has a great Christmas. We’ll see what the New Year brings.”

Justin Golightly - December 26, 2017

At this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to what Conor McGregor decides to do next. UFC interim lightweight champion is expecting to unify his belt against the man, meanwhile he’s got a list of boxers wanting to do business with him. Floyd Mayweather was quick to shoot down rumors of him coming into the UFC, while Manny Pacquiao wanted to get McGregor back in the boxing ring. The Irishman himself claims it is an MMA fight that’s next, so Bruce Buffer brings up the idea of Pacquiao meeting the champ in the Octagon instead. “All respect to Manny Pacquiao, one of my favorite boxers of all time. I think, for me personally, the [Floyd] Mayweather/Conor McGregor fight was the fight that we all enjoyed and got our $100 worth of entertainment. I would rather much see Conor get back into MMA. It excites me much more. I mean, let’s see a boxer want to step up and fight under MMA rules and fight Conor in the Octagon, and it might be another tremendously huge payday.”

Russell Ess - December 26, 2017

Would a Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre matchup be the biggest fight in UFC history? It would certainly make for an interesting match of styles and with both fighter’s star power, it would definitely make for some massive numbers. St-Pierre’s longtime Tristar Gym coach Firas Zahabi spoke with Express Sport recently on the matchup that he says he has been interested in this fight for St-Pierre for some time.

Justin Golightly - December 23, 2017

When we enter into the UFC’s 2018 year, there are a lot of things up in the air. But hey, it’s always good to end on a cliffhanger, right? One of the big mysteries of the new year is just what Conor McGregor is going to be doing. He’s been seen training jiu jitsu and straight up said he’s fighting MMA next, but he could always change his mind. One of the many fighters in three divisions that are waiting for McGregor’s return is interim UFC lightweight champ Tony Ferguson. While we get our last contender fight of the year with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Edson Barboz at UFC 219, Ferguson waits to see if he’ll unify the belts. With this in mind, he sends perhaps his last message of the year to the Irish ‘Champ Champ’. “Happy Holidays My Hooligans” Papi Chulo Cucuy Says #SeasonsBeatings & Happy New New Year! #DefendorVacate Friggen’ Potatoe Chip Eatin’ McNuggets Dunkin’, Paper Champ Dead Beat. It’s Sad To See Your Fans W/ Me @Thenotoriousmma #VacateBitch #NoBalls 🖕🏽😎 #InGloriousNotorious pic.twitter.com/YcHwmnnAiX

Russell Ess - December 22, 2017

Remember when UFC superstar Conor McGregor tweeted that he had retired last year? Well, we all know that didn’t end up being true and it would have been a shame if “The Notorious” hung up the gloves back then as he has accomplished some historical feats since. If McGregor retired in April of last year like he tweeted, he would not have gone on to become the only fighter in history to be a simultaneous two-division UFC champion. McGregor also would not have made the biggest payday of his career by transitioning to the boxing ring for the money fight with Floyd Mayweather.

Justin Golightly - December 22, 2017

Conor McGregor has always been close to the members of his team. He’s stayed with them throughout his meteoric rise and intends on maintaining his loyalty no matter what. So after Artem Lobov was invited to train Russian special forces operatives at the Kremlin, McGregor was quick to praise his right-hand-man who calls a brother. Although, it wouldn’t be a proper public statement from McGregor unless is made fight fans and media raise their eyebrows. In his proud social media post, he alludes to a possible fight in Russia sometime in the future. “I am proud of my brother Artem Lobov. Inside the world famous Kremlin compound discussing and teaching our training methods to the Russian federal reserve on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. One day soon I will visit Russia and potentially compete there for my Russian fans, alongside my brother Artem. Thank you to all our Russian supporters for recognizing our lifetime of hard work and supporting us along the entire way. Without effort, you can not get a fish out of the pond.” — Conor McGregor via his official Instagram.

Justin Golightly - December 21, 2017

It somehow seems like ages ago since Conor McGregor was screaming into the faces of everyone that he owned boxing. Just a handful of months ago, McGregor did the unthinkable and actually fought Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. Both of them made an obscene amount of money and walked away from the ring to enjoy it all. The UFC’s self-proclaimed ‘Champ Champ’ did a lot of his training at the UFC’s Performance Institute in a ring emblazoned with the UFC and his own logo for McGregor Sports and Entertainment. However, today that ring sports new logo. The boxing ring is mine. pic.twitter.com/4lMwOXtPhT

Chris Taylor - December 20, 2017

Conor McGregor sends Floyd Mayweather a message following UFC discussions. Earlier this week undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather mentioned that he was interested in fighting under the bright lights of the UFC.

Justin Golightly - December 20, 2017

Georges St-Pierre waltzed into the UFC after being out for four years and added another ridiculous accomplishment to his career by taking the UFC middleweight title from Michael Bisping. It was a gigantic moment, but UFC 217 somehow seems like a distant memory now, especially after he dropped the title only a month later due to his health issues. As the combat sports year starts to close, Bisping reflects on the controversial aftermath of St-Pierre’s win. The former champ still thinks he’s a prick, but concedes that it was actually a really smart move. “[Georges St-Pierre]’s a prick. He’s a prick, god bless him. I’m gonna be brutally honest here, [him vacating the title is] a double-edged sword. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. By the way, Dana White threw me under the bus when he first found out. He wasn’t happy with Georges and he said, ‘Yeah, well he cherry-picked Bisping.’ That doesn’t do me any favors! He didn’t cherry-pick me, but I did say that. I said Georges wanted to fight me because he thought I was an easy fight and this and that, and he got the win, and then he vacated the belt. Now he vacated the belt because apparently he had to go to the hospital after our fight and he thought he was gonna be paralyzed and he had a bad neck and all this type of stuff. I don’t know. He just doesn’t fancy doing it again.”

Justin Golightly - December 20, 2017

Tyron Woodley couldn’t get Nate Diaz to come out and speak when they were potentially in talks for a superfight. The only thing Dana White could draw out of Diaz is a social media Stockton slap. At the end of the day, it took hometown battle rapper Okwerdz for Diaz to walk out of the shadows and pick up a mic. …And it didn’t disappoint. In his first all-encompassing interview since May on a special episode of The MMA Hour, Nate Diaz spits more fire than can be contained within the boundaries of this article. He goes off on Conor McGregor, the UFC’s suspect marketing tactics, and being on lockdown preventing his move to boxing. “Conor [McGregor]’s their guy. They just give him what they want to do with him and they build who they want to build and I’m not one of them, but it’s all good now, I’ll build myself. […] Yeah, a lot [of boxing promotions wanted to buy out my contract]. Years ago. They promote him as the money guy and he became bigger than everybody because that’s what they promoted him as. I was the guy bringing all the views and all the numbers. They didn’t announce it as that, so that’s why when they were going to buy out my contract [the UFC] were like, ‘Are you kidding? This is our guy. We just don’t want to tell anybody this is our guy or why because then his value goes up and he gets what he wants and we don’t want to give him what he wants, we want to give little Irish dude what he wants.'”

Justin Golightly - December 19, 2017

With as much happening in the welterweight division, one hard-hitting Scouser can’t get anyone to fight him. Darren Till wanted to test Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson’s Karate techniques, but that looks like it’s not happening. He was rooting for Mike Perry to win at UFC Winnipeg to finish what they started at UFC Gdansk, which didn’t pan out. Finally, he’s turned his sights on Rafael dos Anjos and Santiago Ponzinibbio. After finishing Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, Till is a hot commodity hoping to leverage for a big fight. Of course, no fight would ever be bigger than Conor McGregor, although Till says he’s not there yet. “I’d love to fight Conor [McGregor] but I don’t know what Conor wants to do. What does Conor want to do? Does he want to fight with [Paul] Malignaggi? I heard he was meant to be fighting [Manny] Pacquiao. Does he want to fight to reclaim his belt or defend his belt at lightweight? Does he want to go to feather? You know, you don’t really know with Conor. He’s the biggest name in sports. At the moment I’m, shall we say, insignificant. There’s way more bigger options. But along the line, if he wants to come up to welterweight and fight a superior striker in myself, me and him, we can bounce. […] Right now, I just want to be the greatest fighter in MMA. In the whole of MMA.” — Darren Till speaking to Obviously Fight Talk.

Russell Ess - December 18, 2017

It has been over a year since we last saw Conor McGregor fighting in the Octagon. “The Notorious” fought just once in 2017 in the second biggest pay-per-view event in history with his big money boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in August. With recently stating that he fancies fighting in mixed martial arts over boxing for his next competition, those following McGregor are anxiously awaiting to hear what will come next for the UFC lightweight champion.

Justin Golightly - December 16, 2017

He’s the multi-million dollar mad man at the at the top of the combat sports world. After ripping two titles out of the hands of UFC champions and making history, he walked away from MMA on paternity leave. Oh, and boxed probably the greatest boxer of our generation to make more money than he’s made in his entire career fighting in a cage. Everyone wondered when and where he’d return. Would it be boxing Manny Pacquiao? Or would he strut back home and face one of the many men waiting for him back in the Octagon. The answer seems to be the UFC. “We’ll see what happens. I think a true fight is what I want to do next. A real fight. Exactly, what’s a real fight? MMA next. F-ck WWE.” — Conor McGregor said speaking to TMZ.

Justin Golightly - December 15, 2017

Conor McGregor can fight anyone right now, absolutely anyone he wants. That’s good and bad for the UFC. After making more money than his entire UFC career combined in one boxing match, everyone knew it was going to be difficult to get him back to the Octagon. The latest opponent for McGregor that has popped up is none other than Manny Pacquiao, who claimed he was in negotiations to box the Irishman in April. Dana White was quick to shut that down, citing it would result in a lawsuit, but went further last night on social media to put the final nail in the coffin. He’s not Boxing anyone so calm down cry babies.

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

Conor McGregor can now boast about another record to his already ridiculous list. He already shattered his pay scale with his historical boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather. There were numerous conflicting reports about how well the blockbuster superfight performed, but not we have the true numbers and they’re still nothing to turn your nose up at. The SHOWTIME pay-per-view ended up doing 4.3 million in PPV buys, just 3ooK short of breaking the record that still holds solid for Mayweather’s fight with Manny Pacquiao. SHOWTIME Sports confirmed today that the SHOWTIME PPV presentation of Mayweather vs. McGregor on August 26, 2017 generated 4.3 million pay-per-view buys in North America. This includes traditional television distribution and online portals such as the new SHOWTIME PPV app and SHOWTIMEPPV.com as well as UFC.TV in U.S. and Canada.