Conor McGregor Talks Beef With UFC , Fires Shot At ‘Old’ Mayweather During Interview ‘He Needs Me, I Don’t Need Him’


Conor McGregor went on SportsCenter this morning to clear the air on his beef with the UFC and to discuss a potential fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

With regards to the UFC, Conor felt slighted that they wanted him to do so much press in a limited amount of time while he was away focusing on training for UFC 200.

“I was in a time where I was like, figuring out something,” “I didn’t just shut out and say no to everything. I just wanted to do reasonable media, and then, hey, all of a sudden, ‘Conor, it’s three months from the fight, we’ve got to drag you (onto) 40-hour flights to come and do a runaround, New York, Vegas, California, 70 press conferences, 70 talk shows, adverts, all of this,’ and it’s like, I already made you $400 million last week. That was only last week, that fight. I need to get right.

“That’s how it all came about. I just wanted to focus and I was deep in the process, and especially at that particular moment, I just wanted a little bit more time. I didn’t shut it off completely. Reasonable media, is what I said. I said I would do New York. I said I would do everything else after that. I just needed another little bit to set myself, and then the lack of communication, they weren’t having it. They were trying to push back on me, I was trying to push back on them, and look, it blew up then.

“There were times when I was … seeing the press conferences take place, and I was like, ah, I should’ve just jumped on the damn flight. I should’ve just stuck it out and went with it. But sometimes you’ve gotta do what’s right for you, and not do what’s right for everybody else — and especially if you’ve done what’s right for everybody else a million times over, you should have the right to be able to do what’s right for you sometimes. That’s what I felt.

As for Mayweather, McGregor is confident that the aging boxer ‘needs him” for one last big payday because he has no more worthy opponents to fight in the boxing world.

“It was him that leaked the rumor,” “He gets $100 million, and I get $7 million? That is a pay cut to me. I don’t take pay cuts. I thought boxing was where the money was at. Seven million is absolutely laughable. He’s talking $100 million. I’m also talking $100 million. I’m 27 years of age and I’m just about halfway through a $100 million contract.

“At 27 years of age, Floyd Mayweather was on Oscar de la Hoya’s undercard. Compare that. Who doesn’t want to conquer both worlds? He’s getting old now. I have the size, I have the reach, I have the height. I have the youth. He needs me, I don’t need him. That’s the truth of it. Who else he can fight? He fights someone else in the boxing realm, all of a sudden the pay goes from $100 million to $15 million. He needs me. If he wants to talk, we can talk, but it’s me who is in control here.”

McGregor had dinner with UFC president Dana White earlier this week and it appears he’s set to return to fight in the UFC, so all this Mayweather talk is probably B.S.

Jorge Alonso BroBible avatar
Brobible sports editor. Jorge is a Miami native and lifelong Heat fan. He has been covering the NBA, MLB and NFL professionally for almost 10 years, specializing in digital media.