Conor McGregor Wants Co-Promoter Status or He Won’t Return to the UFC
Conor McGregor‘s return to the UFC may be a bit more complicated than just picking his next opponent.
The reigning lightweight champion is currently embroiled in negotiations for his next fight inside the Octagon, but McGregor is steadfast in his request to serve as a co-promoter or he might not return to the UFC at all.
That’s the message McGregor sent to the UFC on Wednesday night while celebrating the premiere of his new documentary “Notorious”, which gets an official release next week.
“We’ll see. We’re currently in contract negotiations. There’s a couple of opponents, different sports now in place. You’ve got the boxing game also clawing to get me in. So we’re at the contract negotiation stage. That’s it,” McGregor said.
“They’ve got to entice me now because I came from a billion dollar fight so they’ve got to entice me with something. I want equity. I want ownership. I want to be true partners in this, similar to the way I was in the Floyd [Mayweather] fight. I was a promoter and I was a fighter. That must continue for me to continue. Otherwise, I’ve got many entities and many other interests that I can carry on. Also I’m already set [financially] but we’re in negotiations. I certainly love to fight. I certainly have a belt to defend. I’m certainly interested in that. We’re in the negotiation stage.”
This isn’t the first time McGregor has mentioned co-promotion or an ownership stake as terms for him to fight in the UFC again.
Last November after becoming the first ever simultaneous two division champion in UFC history, McGregor made it clear that he wanted bigger stakes in the company before considering another fight.
For the majority of 2017, McGregor was either chasing or preparing for his eventual showdown with Floyd Mayweather in a fight that reportedly earned him north of $100 million.
McGregor was a co-promoter in that fight with his brand ‘McGregor Sports and Entertainment’ and that’s what he wants from the UFC as well.
If he doesn’t get what he wants, it sounds like McGregor is ready to walk away from the UFC and mixed martial arts to pursue other goals or perhaps just sitting on that stack of cash he earned from the Mayweather fight.
