MMA Fighting - REACTION: Conor McGregor DELAYING UFC Return For Fight With WWE Star Logan Paul?

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Conor McGregor says he's agreed to his next fight, but it's not in the UFC. On Monday morning, McGregor says he's agreed to a boxing match in India with WWE star Logan Paul, and then he'll head back to the UFC. MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee react to McGregor's latest head-scratching comments, discuss if there's any smoke to the tweet, and that this means for his UFC future. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, everybody. Happy Tuesday. Welcome to the MMA Fighting YouTube channel, the podcast network, wherever you're listening or watching because folks, Connor McGregor continues to say things. He continues to tweet things. And trying to figure out what he's actually saying has been quite the mental exercise over the last few years.

but boy are we going to be terrific triers today. I am Mike Hack. I'll be joined by one of my amazing colleagues in a moment, but if you missed it, we heard from Connor McGregor this morning, and he said some things about his court case. He also said something that has gotten a lot of attention because obviously with the court case,

the former two-division champion was in the courtroom. Last month, he was found liable in civil courts, stemming from a sexual assault case in 2018. The judge rules that he had to pay a sum plus legal cost for his accuser. And earlier in the year, McGregor was expected to make his UFC return, following a pretty brutal, almost catastrophic leg break against Dustin Porre.

He was scheduled to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in Las Vegas. Then he gets injured. He's forced to withdraw. So now we're inching closer to the four-year mark since we last saw Connor McGregor compete in a UFC fight and Dana White, anybody in regards to the UFC has been asked repeatedly, when is Connor coming back? When is Connor coming back? And Dana keeps pretty much moving the timeline back further and further and further. Connor seems to deflect and go against most of the things Dana has been saying this entire time.

Now Connor McGregor is saying, you know what? I got something cooking. I've been. agreed to box Logan Paul. Yes, Logan Paul, the YouTube boxer, the W.W.E. Superstar. He's saying he has agreed to box Logan Paul in India. And then after that happens, I'll return to the UFC, which just seems like a weird and wacky thing to say for a guy like Connor McGregor, but he says weird and wacky things all the time. And I don't believe we have heard from Logan Paul since. However, we recently just heard from Logan's brother, Jake Paul. Here's what Jake had to say via the magic of Twitter.

Quote, now it all makes sense why Connor McGregor and his management team have been desperately trying to get MVP to negotiate for a fight between us. As we told them privately, and I'm now saying it publicly, the only way we're willing to explore me versus Connor in a pro boxing excuse me slash

MMA fight is if Dana White slash UFC are at the table directly or make it clear they're okay with discussions. Connor is washed, needs the pause, Logan by however he wants. Okay, but look, like I said, this is something that has gotten a lot of attention. So let's talk about it. And joining me to discuss this in much more, there he is. Let's bring us both up here at the same time. Let us bring in my best friend, the co-host, the co-matchmaker for on to the next one, the wonderful Alexander Kaylee from

MMAfighting.com, AK, I will ask this as simply as I possibly can. What in the the world is going on here and you believe any of this? I learned, listen, ever since 2017 happened, I've learned not to rule anything out. Now, when I first saw this, for one thing, you know, I went to bed, my best friend with like a nagging feeling that like something weird is going to happen overnight, but I thought it'd be John Jones related. I thought John Jones would just have something to say about Covington, which was true. That did, did happen.

So I was, I was ready to wake up to some social media shenanigans. For some reason, I just didn't explain anything from Connor. Maybe I've just, there was a time where pretty much every day we were, I'm sure if you go back through when he was at his most active on social media, like tweeting about himself, not just about like, you know, his products and about bare knuckle fighting. You know, you'd find we wrote a lot of stories about Connor tweets. It was a, it was a good time, very lucrative time in the industry to be rebroadcasting this man's often crazy thoughts. But I didn't see this one coming. I didn't see this one coming. So, yes, he claims that there is preliminary talks.

I think that's exactly awkward and he used preliminary talks with the Embani family to have a boxing match with Logan Paul, not Jake Paul, with Logan Paul in India. For guys, anyone not familiar with the Ambani's, you probably at least, if you're on social media at all, TikTok, Instagram, whatever, you saw clips from, I guess what is only known as the Ambani wedding this past summer, which had, you know, all these celebrities at it. People that just performed were like, you know, Justin Bieber was there. Rihanna, I think, did a full concert for this wedding. This is a multi-day affair, as all as most Indian weddings are. And if you check most reports, the cost estimated anywhere from $300 to a billion for a wedding. My guess would be closer to a billion, if we're being honest, just based on the names that were there and some of the guests they had and just the sheer spectacle of it all.

So that's the kind of money we're talking about when Connor says he is working with the Embanis to make a fight in India happen, a boxing match with Lope and Paul happen. It sounds absurd. It sounds crazy. but guys, if you know me, I said seven or eight years ago, I didn't think Connor Gregorfer's flood me whether it would happen. And now that seems normal compared to all the insanity that we've seen since. So I think if you ask me, this is total bullshit.

I don't think there's... I mean, if by talks, meaning like literally he's had some contact with some representative from the Abanis about like, oh, yeah, wouldn't this be cool if it happened? Maybe, maybe. You know, these are all famous people. These are all people with money. They all run in the same circles. entirely possible, literally, that a basic conversation has happened.

I don't buy preliminary talks. I don't buy the gears are in motion. But when there's this much money involved, you can never rule it out completely. So I just think it's crazy. I'm still reeling from it. I'm still really from it. My in-laws are Indian. So trust me, I am waiting.

I have not heard the wave yet of, oh, my gosh, is this real? Because I guarantee they're going to come to me asking how much realness there is to it. And I'm still not sure what I'm going to tell them. here's why this is so strange to me, AK, because usually every day there's a Connor tweet. And usually it's something about a fight that probably could never happen. And the day just goes on, right? We go on, we read the tweet or we see it in our Slack channel. We're just like, okay, he's just saying things.

And then we just maybe we create a graphic and then that's really all the chatter about it. I go to the gym this morning. and when the workout ends, I go to my phone. Literally, every news outlet on planet Earth that I have on my phone, has sent an alert out, breaking news. Connor McGregor is not fighting in the UFC. He's agreed to box Logan Paul in India in a boxing match. And I'm like, wait a second.

This never happens with the Connor thing. Did you get these same alerts too? Because like, I guess first take was talking. about it like people are like on their sports channels talking about this which leads me to believe that this is i'm not saying this is happening i'm not i ain't a fish here i ain't biting into the line the worm is there it looks delightful but i'm not biting it but this is different i don't i was shocked to see how many alerts i got about this did you experience that as well i i so i actually haven't yet i am waiting for the the drop from uh from any any of my associates

it's in India, even though they are ahead. But again, maybe they just, maybe they have a better feel of the situation. Maybe they know that this is bullshit because I guarantee they probably would have heard about it before we did. But I think, I think the buzz is because Connor dropped, I don't know if he, if he crafted this tweet himself, but he really dropped all the right buzzwords in there, didn't he? Again, Logan Paul, you know, you name one of the Paul brothers these days. You're going to get some social media, some bounce right there.

The Abani family, like I said, one of the wealthiest families in the entire world. Again, and anyone that hadn't heard of them definitely heard of them this past summer. So, like, they, they have reached well beyond India.

I mean, they're just an extraordinarily famous family now. Again, they already works. I say now, I say there's just more people on our side of the pond that have heard of them now. Of course, they were insanely famous before.

And then, even mentions Toporia, that was, that was cheeky. Like, oh, that's only all like two rumors at once, you know,

it's like, oh, yeah, that, that was, that rumor. Where did that come from? I don't even know. I haven't heard that rumor and I work in the M.A.

That's what's so sly about it, right? It's like he shut down a rumor that we didn't even know existed. So this Toporia, there's Logan Paul, there's the Embanis of talking about boxing. He makes sure to mention the UFC, like you said, that he caps it off with, oh, I'm still coming back to the UFC. It was like a perfect social media smorgasbord of words to put in a tweet. And I think that's why, like, it's, again, it's still pretty early. I say early in the day for us, East Coast time, what, 1130 as we record this, Mike.

And I just feeling people are going to be talking about this for the rest of the week, which in this new cycle that we live in, considering it again, how insubstantial this is. It's just a tweet, guys. It's just a tweet and a response from Jake and a response from Ilya. We haven't even heard from Logan yet, but it's already got everyone buzzing. So, yeah, I mean, it's something we just have to talk about. As ridiculous it sounds like, we have to talk about it. So Saturday night was UFC Tampa, and we didn't expect to see him in Tampa, but he was there. Dana White comes back and answers questions from all of us in the media.

And it's just, you know, a lot of the same stuff. Like, what's this? What's this? Here's what's happening in the news. Your reaction to it. And then at one point, Dana White says, we have something cooking for 2025 that is going to blow your minds. And boy, have we heard that before.

UFC 300 socks are going to get blown off. And we announce this main event. You'll never see this coming for a mile away. and they give us Alex Brewer v. Jamal Hill, which, like we said, it was a terrific bite. But the socks were on, the shoes came on. Like, more clothes actually jumped onto my body after that announcement was made than came off my body.

But now he's doing it again. Wait till you see this. You will never believe this. Heads will spin, I believe was the quote. Could this be it? Because let's think about this, AK. Logan Paul is under WWE contract. W.W.E. and UFC

they're intertwined with TKO. You mentioned everything that's going on with this family and how much money they have. And if anybody likes to collect a big fact paycheck, it's Dana White in the UFC, it's TKO. And if they could put this all together, even though this is the dumbest idea I have ever heard in combat sports, and we just saw Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson fight each other, could this happen because of who's involved?

Like, is this something they could do? Could this be what Dana's talking about? I hate that you have taken your red yarn and connected these together. And in a reasonable way, that's what's so upsetting is that you're making me think about it. I'm so mad at myself. I can't lie to you. Because if somehow they work this, if they work anything with this family and they, they, I don't even know if it's this fight or somehow make a Conner fight happen in India. Let's just say they make a Conner fight happen in India.

Let's say it's not Logan Paul. They somehow managed to hold an event in India with Connor. And they get the payment. You know, we all know they love their site fees. We all know the UFC loves their site fees. And they get some sort of fee from this family. It would probably guarantee a profitable year for them, no matter what happened the rest of the year.

Let's say this happens in like first quarter of, first four months. It's like April. April or something. If this happened, the money that they would likely be paid to do this, again, it would guarantee a problem year.

They could headline the rest of the year with Julianna Pena and Alexandria Pantosia on like half the pay reviews for the rest of the year. And they would still break in hand over fist, the money. that we're talking more here. So I don't, answering your question directly, I don't think that that is what he's alluding to.

I, because I have a feeling if that was the case, he wouldn't really be allowed to mention it. I would think like not even hint at it. I'm hoping my fingers are crossed that, that he was talking about John Jones, Tom Aspinall. But again,

that feels like a separate conversation. So you're right. It maybe doesn't fall under the, we don't know that, Mike. You don't know that. He answered that directly. He said it will happen. He said,

He's 100% guaranteed we'd get John. I thought it was. I was hoping it was tied together. But I still don't think it's this, whatever this is, because I just think he wouldn't even, if it's what Connor says, preliminary talks, preliminary talks supposedly. I don't think that even Dana would want to tease something like that. I think anything, Dana, you throw something like that out there. And by, again, by February, people probably won't remember he said it.

Besides us, you know, we'll hold him accountable. We'll bring it up. I'm sure, you know, any time he's in front of the mic, you'll say, is that mystery main event you've talked about coming to fruition at all? I am interested to see, though. You're right. If someone makes that same connection and then, and it has to come up with the next press conference.

So we'll see, Mike. But I don't know. I'm not willing to make that connection yet. What is more likely to happen in your eyes, AK? Connor McGregor boxes Logan Paul in 2025 or Connor McGregor has a UFC fight in 2025. Oh, God. Can I say neither? Can I say neither?

I'll go with the UFC fight. No, I have to respect the question. I'll go with the UFC fight. Because, again, I just don't, there are still complications. Yes, they're both under the TKO banner. I totally get it. And one of the great things about that partnership is that we suddenly, our minds are open to like, wow, like there's a lot of crossover possibilities here,

not just from a talent standpoint, but from marketing and from just a production, the way they run their businesses. So, yes, it is, that's one less barrier to making something like this happen, right? This is two TKO, two guys under the TKO banner. But it's, I'll still lean towards the UFC thing just because it's just easier to manage. I still think it's a good chance we don't see Connor in 2025. There's just so much going on in this dude's life. I know, because I think some people were confident he was me back in 2024.

And then I guess we weren't fully aware of everything that was going on with the civil suit still, that I think was one of the factors for him not returning. And considering that he says he's going to appeal, considering some of the comments he's made sense, that's really not over yet. like as far as, as far as like that being part of tied to his business and his personal life. And I don't know how much the UFC and ESPN and all these shareholders want to be involved in that. Like, I think that stuff needs to be cleared up because I think it's, again, the accusation was so heinous and that he was found liable for me is so damning. I know it's not this. I know it's a civil case. I know liable is not the same as being considered 100% guilty in a criminal case.

I understand. Not the same thing. Not the same thing. The burden of proof is much later. I get it. but from just what we know of transpired. And again, the fact that he was found liable. Look, this is bad guy.

Liable is bad, guys. I don't know. We don't need to relitigate this. We did a whole other show about, you know, when the verdict happened. Liable is still pretty bad considering what he was being accused of. So I don't know. I want all that stuff to get up first where you can talk about Connor fighting again. And for me, you know, if he never fights again, I'm fine with it.

I know we all love the spectacle. I know we as websites love the Connor clicks. I'm fine. This guy never fights again. And part of me really hates that he and his team crapsed such a good tweet that we have to talk about all the possibilities that can come from it. The man understands SEOAK. Yeah, he understands it. That's SEO quality post for sure. No question.

True. All right. So, I mean, that's kind of the latest with all this. And we'll see what happens. And as you said, you were right. John Jones did clap back at Colby Covington and it was kind of funny, but we'll, uh, we'll get to them and be able to take a couple other comments. We'll stick around for like three or four more minutes, but, uh, sauces, Logan versus Conner's a real peach is delight. Is that a good thing? Uh, I looked that up ahead of time. Thank you. According to Reddit, it said it was like something that was perfect. Okay. So, okay. Uh, Alex just feels like a way to get the media cycle focused on a new fight and not.

the civil, it was not really a conviction, though he might need the money, sponsors leaving, etc. You know what? Yes, there's some truth to that, I think. But also, like, he tweets a lot about this, about the case still. So if he's trying to veer away from not talking about the case, he's doing a really bad job because he is now, you know, going after, and there's a whole other discussion. You know, now he is obviously big on pushing this false accusation narrative and that's fine,

you know, you can agree, you can not agree. That is what he is doing. So I don't know if he's trying to draw attention away from the case because he's certainly trying to draw a certain kind of attention to it, attention that he hopes is like, you know, positive for him. So I don't know. I think it might be unrelated. This is why I feel like this was drawn up by his team and not by him.

There's a lot going on with the Conner McGregor social media. I think I'd love to know the inner workings of how that stuff's being handled. Master of the Universe Classic. Jake Paul put up a very interesting response, Mike, half an hour ago, which I really respect to be honest, especially what he's also very wise in knowing that Dana is never going to let Connor go and box Jake Paul. It's just never going to happen. So I thought the tweet was pretty good. And then at first I was like, wait a minute.

Does Jake think this is about him? Because he said Logan. And then at the end, it was like Logan by however he wants, like just buried at the bottom of the sentence. So it was interesting. What was your thoughts on the tweet from Jake? I was also confusing. frankly, I was confused at first by the initial tweet. I think in my mind, like Connor's tweet, I read Jake.

Like I read Jake and I was like, okay, no way. He's talking about Logan, this exhibition about Logan. And then when Jake replied, I got confused again, as you said. So I don't know. I don't know how I feel about, I think we knew Jake was going to respond first. He is the more, this is, I can't believe I'm a grown man debating the social media proclivities of the problem for others. But I do believe Jake is the more reactive tweeter.

he's this is like an analyzing their fighting styles yeah jake jake's counter tweeting game is a little bit stronger it's a little bit more noticeable um he's of course more dipped into the uh legitimate if you want to call that like the legitimate combat sports world so uh you know of course he's the first one to reply about a boxing talk logan again currently is not boxing he is i see comments asking is he retired from boxing i mean guys everyone's retired until the right paycheck comes along. So yeah, he's probably not actively pursuing boxing bouts. But again, if there's any truth to this Connor and Bonnie thing and they reach out to him with the problems of a fat check, you know, Logan's going to put those boxing gloves on pretty quickly. So yeah, but I know,

it makes sense that Jake replied first and got himself involved in the conversation. This is how the social media game works, right? Like we said, Connor crafted a perfect tweet. So if you want to, you want to ride off of that, that's exactly what Jake's doing. And, you know, and it does involve his brother and it does involve the possibility of fights. So yeah, he's just getting himself in the conversation, which is, I guess, what you've got do these days. I hope everybody can hear me. There was a weird, Mike, they can hear you now.

There was a bit of a drop off for some reason. It got quiet. It got quiet for a bit and then came back. Okay. I don't know why. Yeah, and you're a little fuzzy now. Not fuzzy? A little fuzzy.

What in the world's going on? I don't know. I didn't see you touch anything, so. It's quiet again. It's quiet again. What the hell is going on? No worries, Mike, you work on that. I'm going to answer a question from Joseph Boza.

Yeah, yeah. Joseph Boza asking Logan Claim to retire, so I address that. Isn't India a random place for this boxing match to take place? Yes, I know what you're saying. But again, like we said, the Embani family, obviously based in India. And a huge population there. Again, not a common spot for big fights, for big boxing matches. But, you know what?

Saudi Arabia wasn't a big spot for big fights and big boxing matches. matches once upon a time either and uh you know the right personality comes along the right the right money comes along and suddenly you're holding big big boxing matches there that's just how these things work right um so it's it's it may seem random at first but uh it's it's it's where the money is you follow the money guys i know we've said money nine million times in this podcast but that is really what this all about if there's if there's any inkling of truth to this so uh yes it's entirely again i don't believe any of this is real i do believe it's Connor talking out of his ass or taking something from a sprinkle of a conversation

and just putting it out there on social media so that it blows up and possibly distracts from his other problems going in his life. But, yes, India may seem random, but it only does now until it happens. A.K. Oh, you're back and you're quite loud. I'm too loud.

No, you're properly loud, I think. Properly loud? Okay, good. All right, we figured it out. See, when you go away and you travel for a little bit and you have a wife, she likes to move things around. Oh, no. And sometimes buttons get pushed. And that is what has happened here.

Because this is the first time I've used this microphone in a week. So there we are. I appreciate your patience with this. Here's one other thing that someone just brought to my attention. Logan Paul said he retired from WWE not that long ago. Oh, is that what he's retired from? He's just retired in general. I don't know.

So he's a dad. He's retired. I didn't know. I assume maybe it's from WWE. Oh, okay. Maybe that's like maybe that was the first seed. with all of this. Mike, is it more likely that they just do

something with the WV? I don't know. Even considering how radio- Rania? Even considering, yes, even considering how radioactive McGregory is right now, let's not forget. I don't know. I don't know.

I know. They're still in the stink of the awful, awful Vince McMahon situation. Okay, and I get it. And then even, you have our months now when race on best of many happens or one of the summer slam you know whatever show they decided to try and do this on um whatever whatever you know that stink might finally be going away

i mean i don't think it well i think that's going to linger for years but then you bring in again mcgregor who has his recent thing i i get it might not fit the w e corporate mold right now they're very good at controlling their image they're pretty thoughtful about these things uh but they also haven't been great about handling the vince McMahon situation if i'm being perfectly honest so maybe this does fit in i could see and let's not forget they do regularly hold events in india W.D. has a huge, huge foothold in India of any combat sport. W.E.E. has a monster foothold in India. I'm as saying, you want to do an exhibition boxing match or a worked boxing match with him and Logan Paul?

That, to me, is more believable than I'm actually having a proper exhibition. I could see them working something. Yeah, in pro wrestling. I think that is distinctly possible. And again, that definitely is not what Dana is talking about. I don't think so anyway. But I don't know, maybe TKO's going to be a crazy year where we really see that that WVUFC partnership, like, start to bleed into each other. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, they've been teasing a lot of stuff.

I mean, Dana's been saying it all the time because we're going to be involved in like every combat sport. And who knows, maybe maybe the Zufa boxing. This is the debut event. It's headlined by Connor and freaking Logan Paul. What are we doing here? You had to bring up Zupa boxing. Well done. Everyone on your big, everyone, you did people, a lot of those completed their bingo card with the Zufo Boxing.

All done, Mike. Well done. Brawl for all too. I like it, Lazy Bed. Yes. A little brawl for all too. Let's get JBL back in there. Let's get, uh, let's get marvelous Mark Merrow in there.

Steve Blackman. I'm sure he's chilling somewhere. Yeah. I don't know. But look, this is, this is interesting. And again, the thing that really got me was just seeing alerts about it. Like ESPN was, was alerting people about this and, and other like news apps that I have are like Connor McGregor's boxing Logan Paul or he says he is.

The ESPN said it was a breaking news story. I was like, what? They never do this with Connor stuff, which is why I was like, oh, God, this is, this might be a thing. Mike Connor has also retired multiple times. And we, you know, those are all breaking news. I'm sure. I'm sure once in a time. I wasn't with Emma fighting at the time.

I think when the first retirement happened. I'm sure there was the yellow banner of doom was at the top of the screen. And guess what? That wasn't real either. So take this all guys with so much salt. So many more than just a grain. However many grains of salt you can muster, please take them with this news.

It's possible. Anything is possible in combat sports. After 2017, there's no such thing as this fight will never happen. And when there's this many powerful people allegedly involved in having discussions, it's highly possible. But I'm leaning towards no, Mike. I don't think I asked you.

What are you leaning towards? This is happening in some form, Whether it's with W.E., whether it's like a worked exhibition bout or an actual exhibition bout, will we see them in a ring wearing gloves in some form, Connor and Logan Paul, either this year or even 2026? It's officially one step below. This is the dumbest thing I've ever talked about, which is like, I didn't think I'd even get there. But again, just seeing everything is just seeing everything in regards to this being such a big news story today,

is making me think like it goes from a 0% chance of happening to a 1% chance of happening. So I'll put it at 2%. That's where I'm at 2%, which is 2% percentage points more than I thought. That works for me. I always tell people you can never be more than 98% sure about anything. So the math checks out.

So yeah, I'm 98% sure that this is all not, you know, this is all just something for us to buzz about on social media and the talk of the day. But there is that 2% like you said. like this is that 2% yeah well uh 2% of me is uh is done talking about this so uh that's what we're gonna do thank you very much aka appreciate you jumping on and having fun appreciate you guys hopping in last minute and dealing with my tech issues but uh if more random stuff happens we'll be back and we'll discuss it here so thank you all very much appreciate you for aka i am mike

have a wonderful day everybody into the vox media podcast network