Conor McGregor turned down 7-figure payday to train for Nate Diaz rematch

Conor McGregor famously stated one time that he is a UFC superstar not because of talent, but because he is “obsessed”.

That obsession led to McGregor turning down a massive 7-figure payday to appear in the upcoming xXx movie starring Vin Diesel. McGregor was slated to appear in the film, however he decided to pull out of the role in order to train for his UFC 202 rematch with Nate Diaz on August 20th.

He spoke during a media conference call:

“I met the guy (the director of xXx) before the Aldo fight. The director came out, him and his little team came out and I said, ‘yeah I’ll do the film.’

“And then after the last fight, I rang him up and said, ‘listen, I can’t go into the film because it’s not something I’m trying to do right now. ‘I’m trying to get that win back I need to focus and do what go me here in the first place.’

“So, I disengaged from the film altogether. That was a seven-figure deal that I turned down to prepare for this fight. Myself and Bisping are managed by the same people. Bisping skipped up the road and he got it and that was that.

“So, I just let that go. This is more important to me. I’ve said it before, I’m not in this for show business, this is the fight business. I’m in here and that’s all I’m trying to do here. I’m not trying to do none of this other s**t.””