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Andreas Hale, ESPN
Boxing superstar Terence Crawford said he rejected a deal to fight UFC great Conor McGregor because he didn’t want to participate in a mixed martial arts fight.
In separate interviews, both Crawford and McGregor revealed that Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, had offered them a two-fight agreement, with one in boxing and the other in MMA. McGregor said they would have been paid “hundreds of millions.”
But while McGregor was ready to compete in both sports, Crawford declined.
“They offered me the fight,” the four-division champion said in an interview with Bernie Tha Boxer. “Me and Conor got on the phone and started politicking to try and figure something out. Man, I’m not getting in no f—ing Octagon with you so you can be kicking and elbowing me!”
McGregor, 36, is no stranger to crossover fights. In 2017, the former two-division UFC champion boxed Floyd Mayweather. McGregor lost by 10th-round TKO, but reportedly earned north of $100 million. The fight in Las Vegas registered a live gate of $55.5 million and sold 4.3 million pay-per view buys, both second all time in boxing history.
The undefeated Crawford, 37, is arguably the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world and is one of three boxers to hold all four major world titles simultaneously in two different weight classes.
But Crawford hasn’t competed in MMA, and although he has a background in wrestling, he said he would prefer to keep his fights inside a boxing ring.
“He was like, ‘I respect that,'” Crawford said of McGregor’s response to him rejecting the fight. “‘You respect my sport just like I respect your sport. You understand that if you got in the Octagon with me, I would be at a disadvantage. Just like if I got in a boxing ring with you, I’d be at a disadvantage.'”
McGregor corroborated the story during a live stream with Duelbits.
“[I told Crawford] They are asking for a fight,” McGregor said. “It’s going to be hundreds of millions on the line. What’s up? He said, ‘I don’t want to take a kick.’ You got to respect that.”
Although McGregor said he harbored no ill will toward Crawford for the decision, he made sure to tell him what he left on the table.
“We would have made a s— ton of money,” Crawford said, referring to what McGregor told him.
McGregor is recovering from a toe injury that delayed his highly anticipated return to the Octagon against Michael Chandler, at UFC 303 in June. It’s not known who his opponent will be when he ends his four-plus-year hiatus from MMA.
Crawford is coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Israil Madrimov in August. He has been targeting a massive showdown with Canelo Alvarez, but no deal has been made for that fight.