Terence Crawford revealed that he was offered a two-fight deal against Conor McGregor, but ended up turning it down.
“I told Conor himself, ‘Hell no.’ They offered me the fight,” Crawford 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 fucking Octagon with you so you can be kicking and elbowing me and shit.”
The two would have had one fight under boxing rules and one fight under MMA rules. McGregor has competed in boxing before, taking on Floyd Mayweather and losing by TKO. Crawford has never fought in MMA.
Conor said they were offering hundreds of millions of dollars for the fights.
According to Crawford, McGregor was understanding of Crawford’s decision.
“He was like, ‘I respect that. You respect my sport just like I respect your sport. You understand that if you got in the Octagon with me, you would be at a disadvantage. Just like if I got in a boxing ring with you, I’d be at a disadvantage,'” he said. “He was like, ‘But we’d make a shit ton of money!’ I said, ‘Yeah, sometimes it’s not about the money.’ Kicks and elbows ain’t no joke.”
Crawford is 41-0 in boxing and coming off a unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov in August.
McGregor has not fought in the UFC since July 2021 when he suffered a broken tibia. He won’t return until 2025.
