UFC superstar Conor McGregor might be headed back into the Octagon to face Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier next in the main event of UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi on January 23, but the 32-year-old Irishman is already thinking about his next big fight after that.
In fact, McGregor’s manager Audie Attar revealed to Bloomberg this week that McGregor already has another fight lined up for 2021.
Per Attar, McGregor will definitely be facing boxing legend Manny Pacquiao inside a boxing ring in 2021.
“As it relates to Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor, Conor has a fight on January 23rd against Dustin Poirier…,” Attar said.
“He’s gonna be handling business against Dustin first. But, Conor has come out and said he wants to fight Manny, Manny has come out and said he wants to fight Conor,” Attar said.
“As I stated publicly before, we have had conversations. So, that is a fight we are definitely going to make because both fighters want it, and there seems to be an interest from the fans all around the world,” Attar said.
You can watch that part of Attar’s interview with Bloomberg below.
Firm that helps manage both fighters told us that McGregor-Pacquiao is definitely a fight they will make for next year.
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McGregor vs. Pacquiao
Just as Attar suggested during his interview with Bloomberg, both McGregor and Pacquiao have publicly stated their interest in making the megafight happen next year.
Heck, McGregor technically already announced the fight as a done deal back in September.
Anyway all water under the bridge who gives a fook.
I’m boxing Manny Pacquiao next in the Middle East.
Pacquiao slowed that roll a little with his own comments about the potential fight, but the 41-year-old welterweight boxing champion followed that move up by signing with Attar in what looks like another important domino falling in that direction.
McGregor vs. Pacquiao appears likely for 2021.
So McGregor is on his way to facing Poirier at UFC 257, but the famed MMA star is also still committed, per his manager at least, to facing Pacquiao next year in a superfight crossover boxing match.
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McGregor Headed Back Inside Boxing Ring
McGregor is 0-1 as a professional boxer. The former two-division UFC champ lost via 10th-round stoppage to boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather back in August 2017.
But most observers believe McGregor did well enough in that fight against the best boxing champion of an entire generation to warrant another go inside a boxing ring.
Enter Pacquiao, Mayweather’s chief rival of the era and one of the most decorated fighters in boxing.
Pacquiao is 62-7-2 with 39 KOs. The Filipino legend is the only professional boxing champion ever to win world titles in eight different weight classes, and he currently holds one of the four major world titles at 147 pounds.
While it has been a long time since McGregor weighed anything close to 147 pounds, Pacquiao has captured world titles all the way up to boxing’s 154-pound junior middleweight division.
Pacquiao and McGregor still have to decide on an appropriate catchweight for their fight next year, but there would seem to be enough money on the table for the two to find a way to come to terms.
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Conor McGregor’s Second Fight in 2021: ‘Both Fighters Want It’