SmashCast<\/a>. \u201cI know the administration was strong for me to be at the White House. It was McGregor vs. [Michael] Chandler, the story was built in, Chandler is a standup guy, he\u2019s electric in the cage, he comes to bring it. I\u2019m the Mac, I\u2019ll fly through the air on an opponent like Chandler. It would have been dynamite as far as a fight.<\/p>\n\u201cSomewhere down the line \u2014 not me ever saying \u2018No\u2019 or \u2018Not enough money\u2019 or nothing. Just, \u2018Maybe we\u2019re going to go with you for International Fight Week.\u2019 OK, no problem. \u2018Maybe we\u2019re going to leave Chandler.\u2019 Ah, I do like Chandler. I might have been preparing for him for the last two years. I feel a bit weird. He deserves to go after the waiting. You know if would be a great fight. It makes sense, it\u2019s easy done, it gets me back in there, but if they\u2019re off it, I\u2019m not going to be too picky.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to get back. I\u2019m eager to get back. \u2026 So OK, sorry Chandler, it is what it is. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t decide what these men do, and I don\u2019t want to,\u201d McGregor added. \u201cI don\u2019t doubt them. It\u2019s like in this current climate, we\u2019re all cattle. All these fighters, we\u2019re all cattle. I just happen to be free-range. I\u2019m organic. I\u2019m like wagyu walking around the f*cking farm. So, I\u2019m just waiting to be f*cking wheeled out. Hopefully it\u2019s coming soon. It\u2019s looking like it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, things are very different in the UFC these days. The promotion signed a new broadcast rights deal with Paramount, effectively ending pay-per-views, which was the bulk of McGregor\u2019s pay structure, as the biggest star in the history of the sport. On top of that, Zuffa Boxing, the sister promotion of the UFC, recently signed Conor Benn to a $15 million, one-fight contract, meaning McGregor expects due compensation in this new world.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, we\u2019re in this space where we\u2019re going from the pay-per-view model, which was my model,\u201d McGregor said. \u201cI ran the PPVs. I\u2019m the only fighter in the current landscape that has 1 million PPV buys behind them. All the rest of them are a couple hundred thousand here. They\u2019re getting these deals from outside sources, astronomical figures with no backing. They\u2019ve done nothing in the game. Not at my level.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now, we\u2019re entering this streaming space and \u2026 I want to get in there and do that. I want to take over these streaming rankings figures and set these records. So, what does it mean to the promotion and the content provider in Paramount? It means the records, that what it means.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much do you think it\u2019s worth? How much do you think McGregor to return is worth? Someone said, if your man Conor f*cking Benn [is worth $15 million], how much do you think McGregor is worth in this climate, factoring in inflation alone! My contract was in 2018. Every f*cking thing has gone up. Even the milk and eggs, let alone inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you factor in that\u2019s a big deal them boys doing. Them boys are powerful men. I have to tip my hat to that. That whole Paramount situation, even with the Paramount acquisition, [buying] Warner Brothers. It\u2019s unbelievable. It\u2019s colossal!<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much do you think the Mac is worth?\u201d<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen if McGregor will actually return, or when, but the former two-division champion is adamant he\u2019s ready to return to the sport, and not just as a one-off. \u201cNotorious\u201d has caught the MMA bug again and wants to write a whole new chapter in his storied career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m only starting,\u201d McGregor said. \u201cOnce I can get this ball rolling, blow on this ball and get it going, push it down the hill, I\u2019m going. I\u2019m going for it. I have another contract, another fight after. I want to keep going. I feel with certain things in my recovery and my work, with modern-day science and backed by God, I\u2019m gonna go to f*cking 50. I\u2019m not bowing out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor is ready to get back to work. If the price is right. McGregor has not competed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":["post-521495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}