Conor McGregor has announced a return to the boxing ring to take on YouTube star Logan Paul in the wake of a jury finding McGregor assaulted a woman, who had accused him of rape.
The mixed martial arts fighter had been slated for a return to the UFC, but he has put that rumour to bed and said he has entered a “preliminary agreement” for an exhibition fight with the YouTuber turned sport star.
In a post on X, McGregor said rumours of an upcoming fight with UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria are false and his return to MMA would come after his fight with Paul. The fight is set to be backed by businessman Mukesh Ambani, who is Asia’s richest man and has a net worth of around $100bn.
“The rumors of a bout with [Topuria] are false. 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,” McGregor wrote in the post.
The Crumlin native hasn’t been seen in competition since July 2021 when he lost to Dustin Poirier. That fight ended in a doctor’s stoppage after McGregor broke his leg in the first round.
His first and only appearance in the boxing ring came in his lucrative 2017 bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr, a fight McGregor lost by 10th round TKO. McGregor and Paul have a common opponent in Mayweather – the YouTuber also took him on in an exhibition in 2021.
Last month, a High Court jury found McGregor had assaulted hair colourist Nikita Hand, and he must now pay her €248,603 in damages after she accused him of rape. He is also facing a legal bill of more than €1 million.
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A number of blows were dealt to McGregor’s business interests following the jury’s decision. McGregor sold the whiskey brand Proper No.12 in 2021, but had continued to promote it. Owners Proximo Spirits announced it would no longer use his name or image in the marketing of the brand.
The whiskey was also pulled from the shelves of duty-free shops at Dublin and Cork airports by operator DAA. Pub chain Weatherspoons pulled McGregor’s stout brand, Forged Irish Stout, from taps at all seven of its locations in Ireland.
The National Wax Museum removed its statue of McGregor while the case was still being heard in the High Court, saying it was the “right decision to make”.
After the verdict, Mr Justice Alexander Owens ordered that McGregor would have to pay his own and Ms Hand’s legal costs, and that Ms Hand would not have to pay the costs of McGregor’s co-defendant, James Lawless, whom the jury found did not assault Ms Hand.
The judge also indicated he was considering bringing contempt proceedings against McGregor over social media posts in which he described the court as “a kangaroo court”, as well as making other negative comments about his accuser.
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McGregor has a history with Paul going back to August of last year when the Dubliner said he would “slap the nose off” him.
“I’d like to see him attempt to slap the nose off my face,” Paul responded, describing McGregor as “an average MMA fighter and a horrible boxer”.
The back-and-forth came two months before Paul won an exhibition fight with Dillon Danis, a retired MMA fighter and long-time close friend of McGregor’s. Ahead of that fight, McGregor said he was unable to join Danis for his training camp but predicted his friend would win.
Paul has appeared in four exhibition boxing fights since first entering the ring in 2018, but in recent years has become more known as a professional wrestler in the WWE.
The announcement of this fight comes after Jake Paul, Logan’s YouTuber brother, scored a decision victory over former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson last month. The younger Paul brother has been a bigger success in the ring, where he has built up an 11-1 record as a professional.