We’ve all been waiting to get confirmation of McGregor’s return to the UFC since he recovered from the leg break he suffered against Dustin Poirier. April 13 seemed a given just a couple of months ago, considering that UFC 300 is going to be such a huge event. The biggest events demand the biggest stars, and they don’t come any bigger than ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor.
Although he’s been sidelined for a long time, McGregor has not been sat twiddling his thumbs. Between running multiple successful businesses, he entered the world of acting, starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the upcoming ‘Road House’ remake, a movie that releases March 21 on Amazon Prime. Over the past couple of weeks, McGregor has had extensive promotional obligations to attend to, which led Ariel Helwani to ask, ‘Would this have meant UFC 300 was always off the cards?’ According to McGregor, he would have made it work if he had to.
Having recovered from his injury, McGregor has been training for some time in preparation for a fight that has yet to materialize, at least officially. With just two fights left on his deal, McGregor is surprised that the UFC hasn’t tried to tie him down to a longer-term deal, something he said would have happened if the previous stewardship, i.e., Lorenzo Fertitta, were still at the UFC.
McGregor’s UFC negotiations
Claiming to be a billionaire, McGregor believes that the UFC might not know how to approach contract negotiations with him considering his status and wealth. After all, how do you negotiate with somebody who has generational wealth and opportunities in Hollywood?
”I don’t know, and I don’t know whether they (the UFC) know what to come at me with (in terms of negotiations). Hollywood is lined up, I could actually play loads of roles; think of the amount of movies I could do. There’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and all these guys, and they’ve had great movies made around them. Think about the movies you could make around me” – McGregor told The MMA Hour.
Despite his comments, there is little doubt that Conor McGregor wants to return to his bread and butter. When asked in a recent interview with Jake Gyllenhaal if he intended to return to Hollywood in the near future, he downplayed the notion, indicating that he wanted to go back into ‘his world’ – the fighting game.
McGregor’s comments in his interview with Ariel Helwani may have been a ploy to bring the UFC to the negotiating table regarding his long-term future in mixed martial arts, but for now, he is set on fighting Michael Chandler this summer.
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