Controversial former UFC champion Conor McGregor took to X last night to announce a boxing exhibition against Logan Paul in India. McGregor has not fought professionally since breaking his leg in a 2021 fight against Dustin Poirer.
Logan Paul, the older brother of Jake Paul, has fought in four exhibition boxing matches against fellow YouTuber KSI, Floyd Mayweather, and former MMA fighter Dillon Danis. His record in those fights is two draws, one loss, and one win.
In recent years, Logan has focused more on his WWE career, winning the U.S. Championship in November of 2023. His last boxing match was against Danis in early 2023.
McGregor has one boxing bout under his belt, a 2017 fight against Mayweather which ended in a TKO defeat for the Irishman. He has also had a lengthy time in waiting since his last fight in the Octagon, currently going on three years since his last professional fight.
Many surmise that McGregor chose the boxing route instead of his long-rumored return to UFC to fight Michael Chandler because of the potential for a large purse that a high-profile matchup with a Paul brother brings to the table.
The Irish fighter was found liable by a civil jury for sexual assault of a woman in a Dublin hotel room in 2018. The High Court in Dublin has ordered McGregor to pay the plaintiff a sum totaling $257,000.
McGregor is not facing criminal charges resulting from the incident however multiple companies have revoked deals with the Irishman, who formerly was one of the most marketable athletes in the world.
This fight comes on the heels of the wildly popular but uneventful fight between Logan’s younger brother, Jake Paul, and legendary heavyweight Mike Tyson. While the older Tyson looked completely overmatched against the much younger Paul, the returns on the high-profile event were staggering.
Multiple outlets reported that Tyson received a $20 million purse just for showing up to the fight while Paul, who won the fight on decision, received double Tyson’s purse.
With all the legal problems McGregor faces plus his lost revenue from marketing deals, it makes sense he would pivot his focus away from a UFC return to a boxing match.
On average, McGregor earned in between $3-7 million in each of his UFC fights during his dominant stretch as the former two division UFC champion. Compare that to his single fight against Mayweather in 2017 where the guaranteed disclosed payout was $30 million but the reported total earning was closer to $100 million.
Considering the fact that the Paul brothers have proven they can successfully promote a fight with their vast social media following, the potential payout for a Paul/McGregor fight would be astronomical.
We’ll wait with baited breath to see this fight get pushed across the finish line but if this gets pulled off, it will most certainly be the fight of the year in 2025.
