Conor McGregor: ‘Mayweather needs me, I don’t need him’

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor was interviewed by ESPN on Sunday where he discussed a possible boxing match with retired fighter Floyd Mayweather. Here is what “Mystic Mac” had to say on the subject (as transcribed by MMAFighting.com):

“It was him that leaked the rumor,” McGregor said. “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 insists that he is fine with the bout being a boxing match instead of an MMA fight:

“I don’t really care about rules,” McGregor said. “He can make all the rules he wants. I know he will not want to fight in a mixed martial arts contest in a true fight. If he wants to fight in a limited fight, that’s no problem we can do that. I will set a aside the many forms of fighting that I practice in and I will focus on one particular craft.”

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