Conor McGregor may have been busting up cell phones earlier this month, but the former UFC champion is also eager to crack Floyd Mayweather Jr. upside his head in a potential rematch.
That’s according to McGregor himself, who recently discussed a bunch of fight-related topics during a Q&A in Chicago (shown above courtesy of BJPenn.com) to promote his Irish whiskey and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. As expected, Mayweather’s name surfaced to the top.
“He gets his money and then it comes right back down, he must step back into the ring so I’ll be here ready for him,” McGregor said. “I’ll be here ready and confident.”
Remember, McGregor crossed over from the Octagon to the boxing ring back in 2017 to test his luck against Mayweather in his pro boxing debut. Despite getting finished via 10th-round TKO, “Notorious” did much better than expected, even if you ask some of boxing’s most close-minded pundits. McGregor also managed to play off Mayweather’s gift of gab leading into the superfight to push the pay-per-view (PPV) buy rate to an astounding 4.3 million.
“Floyd fought great,” McGregor said. “Usually he fights defensive against the ropes. Against me, he changed it up. The boxing world had not seen Floyd compete like that, that Mexican style, hands up over his eyebrows, marching forward. In my preparation when I was sparring, all my sparring partners were on the back foot, with the shoulder roll against the ropes, the way he usually would fight.
“When he came and switched that up, I wasn’t prepared. His experience showed through and he got the win. You can’t do nothing but respect that because that takes 50 pro fights to gain that experience and be able to switch through the gears like that.
“I prepared for the style he originally came out with, and I was whooping his ass when he came out that way because I was prepared for it,” McGregor continued. “When he switched up to a different style I wasn’t prepared for, he ended up getting the win, so much respect.”
While McGregor has a ton of options at his disposal for his UFC return, including a potential rematch with nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov, another money fight with Mayweather would simply be too enticing to pass up. “Notorious” not only thinks it should happen in the near future, but he believes he’d get the best of Floyd in the rematch.
“Next camp, and I do believe it should happen, I mean, why not? Why not?” McGregor asked. “If I have sparring partners in my camp that march forward, trust me when I tell you, I’ll send his head into the bleachers.”
Whether or not fight fans want to see McGregor step back inside of the boxing ring against one of the greatest pugilists in combat sports history, UFC would be crazy not to entertain the highly-lucrative rematch should Mayweather actually want to return to fighting.
Of course, McGregor will probably need a win inside of the Octagon first in order to sell the reboot with Mayweather. “Notorious” hasn’t earned one of those since taking out Eddie Alvarez back in 2016 to become UFC’s first simultaneous two-division champion.