Conor McGregor Breaks Silence on Boxing License and Relinquishing Belt

Conor McGregor Breaks Silence on Boxing License and Relinquishing Belt

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor addresses his recent boxing license and being stripped of a title.

Dec 3, 2016 by Jose Youngs
Conor McGregor Breaks Silence on Boxing License and Relinquishing Belt
Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor is the story that just won't die.

While the possibility of a boxing match between the two stars was essentially just a pipe dream among the fighting community, the recent news of McGregor's obtaining his boxing license pushed water cooler talk into over drive. Now, what was once simply a hypothetical conversation, has grown into a real possibility.

While Mayweather's team commented on the news, McGregor had yet to give the reason for his actions. That is until he spoke in front of a crowd in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

On the Possibility of a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather


Revealing it was actually Floyd's team who reached out to him, McGregor said while he's not the one who needs the fight, it was the intrigue surrounding the hypothetical matchup that pushed him to obtaining a boxing license.

"Originally what happened was Floyd called me up," McGregor said. "That's originally what happened. I don't care about Floyd. I don't give a f--k about Floyd. I do not give a f--k about Floyd. I don't fear no man under no rule set. I'm sitting there minding my own business, dominating true fighting and Floyd calls me out and leaks a rumor that we're supposed to fight or something like that. So what I did was I opened up my eyes a little bit.

"I went, 'Hold on. Maybe I can pursue this. Maybe I can pursue the boxing side. Maybe there is something there.' So we went to it. We were in the background of negotiations and we'll see what happens. Now I have my boxing license. Now it's their move...Since I've got that boxing license, Floyd's fat manager came out and was like 'Oh Floyd's in the Bahamas, he doesn't care about Conor.' Well I don't give a f--k about Floyd either.

"If you don't want this fight then it's no problem."

McGregor, the UFC's recent box office kingpin, of course had to bring up the boxer's legendary numbers over the year. Comparing these figures to his own, the Irishman continued to scoff at the notion he's the one who needs to make this fight.

"Other than the Floyd-Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view numbers, gate numbers...I hold all the numbers," McGregor said. "Other than that one fight. So I don't need Floyd. I do not need him."

On Mayweather Promotion CEO's recent comments


Directly calling out Mayweather CEO Leonard Ellerbe, who made waves with his recent comments about the UFC champion getting "his ass beat from pillar to post" in a boxing match, McGregor had a simple answer.

"Tell him to come say it to my face," McGregor said. "I've got the boxing license. Now Floyd's in the Bahamas. Now I get the boxing license and he's gone. Look Floyd's a phenomenal boxer. It's a different craft for me to go and do this. But with correction preparation...if I took out my jiu-jitsu training, my wrestling training, my kickboxing training, if I took out my all those different disciplines and focused with the work ethic that I have solely on the sport of boxing then there's no telling what I can do. I would not go in there just to show up.

"I'd go in there to knock him out and that's it. [Floyd] can be hit. He's been hit before. Age waits for no man also. I know they know that.  I know the size is on my side. I know the reach is on my side. I know the youth is on my side."


On the UFC "Stripping" Him of his Featherweight Belt


Regarding the UFC's recent announcement that McGregor had been stripped of his featherweight title, thus making him solely the lightweight champion, the Dublin native simply laughed.

"I'm also in something with the UFC where they're trying to strip me and I'm like 'Well I ain't stripped.," McGregor said. "Yeah I still got that belt. That belt is sitting at my home right now. I'm still the two weight world champion. Someone's got to come take that off me. I see articles, I see stuff online, but I don't see the belt not in my presence. The belt is right there. There's two world titles in my home."

With McGregor no longer the 145-pound king, UFC officials promoted McGregor's former foe Jose Aldo from the interim champion to the undisputed champion.

However, in a move that left many scratching their heads, promotion officials also revealed the upcoming featherweight fight between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis would be now be for the interim title, with the winner earning a title unification bout against Aldo in the near future.

Again, McGregor could only chuckle at the scenario.

"The belts are mine," McGregor said. "They can say whatever they want to say. You can play with those fake belts all you want. Jose was KO'd, Eddie was KO'd. You're looking at the two-weight world champion and that's it. I'll say it to the UFC. I love the company but you're fooling nobody. You're fooling nobody with that. But best of luck to them.

"I still got them belts and someone is going have to come take them off me physically. Not online, not through a keyboard. The keyboard warriors aren't' going to take that belt. You'll have to take that belt off me physically if you want to come get them."


On becoming a father in the spring


McGregor's knockout win over Alvarez not only made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold two belts in two different weight classes at the same time, but also marked his 18th career knockout victory, seventh under the UFC banner and eighth post-fight bonus.

Following his win at UFC 205, he announced his intentions of taking time off after revealing his longtime girlfriend was expecting their first child, an announcement very few were expecting.

"I'm very excited," McGregor said. "I'm scared but I'll tell you I am excited. There's been so much going on. The fight [against Alvarez] was just wrapped up and then I got a million people on the MMA side calling me out and saying this and saying that. People in the welterweight division, in the lightweight division, in the lightweight division. Then I got the UFC trying to strip me and then I got this whole boxing thing. Then at the same I got my family coming in May.

"So I'm just trying to take it all in. I stay training over the holidays but have good time...just enjoy life. I've been working so hard. I've been grinding my whole life so I'll keep training and taking every day as it comes. But I am looking forward to the birth of my child."