Conor McGregor has called Turki Alalshikh a ‘living legend’ in a cryptic conversation between two giants of combat sports.
The Irishman was responding to a post by Ring Magazine that quoted Alalshikh saying 2025 will be ‘crazy’ for boxing.
McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in 2021
“Absolute living legend is my friend Turki Alalshikh,” McGregor said on X in response to Ring Magazine’s post.
Alalshikh responded a few hours later with various emojis, including a red boxing glove, which prompted fans to believe the pair could be linking up to put on a blockbuster fight.
McGregor has been rumoured to take a second step inside the squared circle since announcing last month that he would be fighting Logan Paul in India.
The 36-year-old hasn’t fought in his primary sport, MMA, since losing a trilogy fight to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, where he shattered his leg in the final seconds of the first round.
His third fight with Poirier came during his second stint in the UFC after taking a year out to make his professional boxing debut against the iconic Floyd Mayweather.
Although McGregor lost via TKO in round ten, he took home over $100million, with ‘The Money Fight’ being the biggest crossover fight in history.
Saudi boxing chief Alalashikh has been praised by the combat sports world for putting on all of the biggest fights.
He had front row seats for Tyson Fury’s blockbuster rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in December, which the Brit lost via unanimous-decision, subsequently failing to exact revenge on his first defeat to the Ukrainian last May.
“Next, if [Daniel] Dubois wins in February, I want to see Usyk and Dubois again,” Alalshikh said, speaking to The Stomping Ground after the bout.
Dubois knocked out Anthony Joshua in September and defends his new IBF title against Joseph Parker on February 22.
Alalshikh has been credited for putting on boxing’s biggest fightsCredit: Getty
“And I want to see Tyson, maybe with [Anthony] Joshua or something, we will decide,” Alalshikh added.
“Let’s see what can happen, everything in Riyadh Season is realistic…The most important thing is the fans enjoy it.”
Since his comments, Fury has claimed he has retired from boxing, saying ‘it’s been a blast’ in a social media statement.
Fury had been heavily linked with a two-fight deal against Joshua this year, but those plans have now been put on hold.
Following Fury’s announcement that he would be retiring from boxing, Alalshikh posted a variety of cryptic posts online, which caused a mixed reaction in the boxing world.
“If it was easy, everyone would do it,” he said, hours after responding to McGregor.
He then followed up with an image that read: “Make boxing great again.”
McGregor’s fight with Mayweather is his only pro boxing bout to dateCredit: Idris Erba/Mayweather
McGregor added fuel to the fire regarding his potential boxing fight with Paul after he posted an Indian flag emoji in response to an article that claimed he had agreed to the fight for $500m.
He also asserted the nine-figure sum he would receive for fighting the YouTuber-turned-WWE superstar by writing: “$250,000,000 I’m coming,” on X.
However, Paul has since stated that he was ‘100 per cent’ committed to the WWE during their debut on Netflix last Monday.
Many personalities in the combat sports world have thrown their name into the hat as suitable replacements for Paul to fight McGregor.
KSI and Tommy Fury, who fought one another in 2023, have both individually urged McGregor to fight them.
Former WWE superstar JBL has also done the same, claiming he’d fight McGregor and Paul for $250m.