Conor McGregor continues to claim that he and Logan Paul are set to split a $500million purse for a fight in India next year.
The former two-weight UFC champion reposted a tweet about the prospective bout, which included a venue and news that their purses would both be a quarter of a billion dollars. This claim began from a troll social media account, but has now gained traction after McGregor’s retweet.
And even his own news outlet The Mac Life has shared the numbers and details, with the Irishman collaborating on the post to share it to his 47million+ followers. However, one UFC legend reckons there isn’t any truth to the claim.
Conor McGregor spreads hoax report claiming he and Logan Paul will make $500million for a fight
Over the weekend, a troll account on X gained major traction for claiming that Conor McGregor and Logan Paul would be earning $250million each to fight in Mumbai. The account purports to be former TalkSPORT editor Michael Benson, who had an infamous X page before selling it to The Ring Magazine.
The user also said that the fight was part of a marketing campaign for a fictional ‘Visit India’ tourism campaign and would take place at the Wankhede cricket stadium. However, these appear to be made up claims.
This didn’t stop McGregor from resharing the ‘news’, leading to it spreading like wildfire. And his media outlet The Mac Life even picked it up, not citing any source as to where the information has come from, leading to further widespread coverage.
Conor McGregor started Logan Paul fight rumors by announcing ‘preliminary agreements’
While it is true that there is a fight in preliminary talks between the two parties, funded by the Ambani family in India, it is unclear where these talks stand. Paul is currently preparing for his return to WWE, while McGregor is under contract with the UFC.
In a tweet earlier this month, McGregor shut down rumors that he was set to face Ilia Topuria, instead noting that he was focusing on a boxing return. He fought Floyd Mayweather in the ring in 2017 and has had some secret exhibitions at his gym Crumlin Boxing Club, but has since been all MMA.
“The rumors of a bout with Topurio are false,” McGregor wrote at the time. “I am in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India. I have agreed. I will then seek my return to the Octagon.”
The social media star has remained coy since McGregor’s tweet, but replied by sharing an eyes emoji over a post about the fight, but has otherwise remained silent on the rumours.
Chael Sonnen hits back at Conor McGregor’s claim
And one man calling out McGregor’s antics is former middleweight and light-heavyweight title contender Chael Sonnen. Not one to resist bending the truth in his own career, ‘the bad guy’ knows a sham when he sees one, and mentioned as much on his YouTube channel last night.
“There is a very big former champion of the Mixed Martial Arts,” Sonnen began. “He’s a big star, his name is Conor McGregor. He is claiming that he is going to get $250million to go box Logan Paul in India for a billionaire investor who wants to bring attention and tourism to India.”
Sonnen then told of a similar hoax story that claimed two-time heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury was coming to the cage in pursuit of a rematch with Francis Ngannou. He noted that McGregor’s story appeared to have more views and engagement.
“Oddly, more people have clicked on, engaged with and commented on Conor’s version,” he continued. “Of which not a single word is true. You’ve got to understand, Conor is not boxing [Logan] Paul, there is not a billionaire in India that is looking to bring people over and change tourism.
“That is something exclusively done by a government and that government does it in one place which is in the Middle East. And third, there’s no cheque for $250million dollars so he kind of went right down the list of joking.”