Conor McGregor Shares Boxing Sparring Footage, But UFC Return Remains Doubtful
Conor McGregor shared some footage of him sparring in a boxing ring as doubts continue over his UFC return.
McGregor has been out of action since 2021 following his defeat and broken leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Following his enrolment into USADA testing, shortly before the UFC ended their relationship with them, McGregor was targeting a return at UFC 300.
That was ruled out as McGregor announced his fight on June 29, 2024, against Michael Chandler at 185 pounds. Since then, Dana White stated McGregor’s return was only certain once the UFC officially announced it. McGregor’s sparring footage may show he is still some way off making a UFC return.
His only boxing bout came against Floyd Mayweather in 2017 when he was stopped in the tenth round. Since then, a rematch has been talked about but never made. The following footage shows McGregor throwing his trademark left hook around the ring.
McGregor’s Sparring
From one combat star to another, Cody Rhodes has spoken about how he nearly ventured into MMA.
The WWE star left the organization to join their biggest rivals, AEW. In doing so, he made a successful return in 2022 by appearing at WrestleMania 38.
He would then headline WrestleMania 39 as he won the title with Jey Uso in the tag team events. He will now participate in the Royal Rumble today, the same event he successfully won last year. Although that may be the case, Rhodes did contemplate entering into MMA.
Rhodes On MMA
“What would be funny to me is if anyone could crossover from here. We have legitimately very tough guys like Bobby Lashley. I’m always very curious to see how one of us would do. I know in the past it’s not always worked out for everybody. But I am curious to see who is the first to take that jump.
“I actually told my wife, I told my wife I wanted to do one fight. [And] I told her this two years ago, I think I was looking for some sort of massive financial windfall. I don’t know what it was. But I told her I wanted to do one fight and she absolutely let me know that would not be happening. Unless you convince her, it’s not going to happen. Maybe it’s for the best,” Rhodes said
Rhodes is one of many to have considered such a thing. Dwayne Johnson has been vocal about how he almost entered into MMA. But he refrained from doing so, choosing to stay in WWE. The decision was correct as Johnson would win the Royal Rumble in 2000 and become a WWE sixth Triple Crown Champion. But at one point, it could have been a different story.
“PRIDE [a defunct] MMA company just opened up in Japan. I started seeing all these MMA guys going over to PRIDE. At that time, I was making $150,000 dollars wrestling 235 days a year. Do the math on that and how much you’re making per match. We start hearing, ‘These guys in PRIDE are making $250,000, $350,000, $500,000.’ I thought then, ‘F**k, I don’t think I’m going to make it in WWE,” Johnson revealed
Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.
