Terence Crawford says he was offered a fight by Conor McGregor in a crossover match in the Octagon, but he turned it down.
He spoke to former UFC champion McGregor, 36, on the phone and told him he wouldn’t do it because he didn’t want to be kicked or elbowed. Crawford says McGregor tried to convince him to take the fight, telling him they could make a “ton of money”, but he wasn’t interested.
McGregor has not competed in MMA since 2021. He has lost his last two fights in the octagon and has not won a match since 2020. According to Celebrity Net Worth, McGregor’s fortune is estimated at $200 million. He made a lot of money for his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017, generating a total of 5.3 million PPV buys worldwide.
McGregor’s popularity has faded, but a fight between him and Crawford will still make money because of the fan base of the two fighters.
Crawford, 37, is coming off a close 12-round unanimous decision over WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3. He did not fare well in his debut at 154 against Madrimov, with a combination of age, lack of strength and ring rust. The only reason Crawford won the fight was Madrimov passively fighting and giving him the fight.
“They offered me the fight and me and Conor called. I just told him, ‘I ain’t getting in no octagon with you so you can kick me and elbow me,'” Terence Crawford said. Bernie Tha Boxerrevealing that he has been offered a fight against former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
It’s another example of Crawford showing a lack of ambition, as he will likely make more money fighting McGregor than he will in his next fight, which could be against WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora.
“He just laughed and said, ‘Man, I respect that. But we’ll make a lot of money.’ Sometimes it’s not about the money. I can make money, but you ain’t gonna kick me, man,” says Crawford.
McGregor is a businessman with the way he tries to push fights against different fighters. Crawford will be no match for McGregor in the octagon unless he scores a knockout without being kicked or taken down. Once Crawford was down, McGregor knew there were too many different submissions for him to get back up.
