The UFC star has issued a ‘come and get me’ plea to other fighters.
Having ‘transcended’ the worlds of both MMA and boxing – despite having lost his only professional fight – Conor McGregor says that he won’t fight in 2018 unless his very strict conditions are met.
The 29-year-old Dubliner took home a purse of more than €100m from his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in August and will now demand the highest possible price for any 2018 fight.
“Right now, my focus is getting back into the right ring or octagon, 2017 was historic. I have transcended both the sport of MMA and boxing,” he told BetSafe.
“I have every intention of fighting in 2018 if my compensation and business development endeavours accurately reflect my influence on combat sports.
“At this stage of my career, as it has been for the majority of my UFC career, potential opponents must lobby for fights with me,” he added.
UFC President Dana White recently stated that McGregor ‘may never fight again’.
“He made $100million. I’ve got guys who made less than that who are lawyers and went to school their whole lives and quit working,” he said at the end of November.
“When you go to school your whole life to be a lawyer, and you’re a good lawyer, and you make a few bucks and you’re done? The guys sitting home every day watching cartoons or whatever he’s doing. I don’t know.
“These guys make money and that’s it. Fighting is the worst – try to get up and get punched in the face every day when you have $100 million in the bank. Money changes everything with a lot of people.
“If Conor wants to fight again, absolutely we want Conor to come fight,” he added. “But if Conor walks away and doesn’t ever want to fight again, it’s part of the game.”
