Terence Crawford confirmed his lack of interest in a crossover fight with Conor McGregor, stating he refuses to enter the octagon due to the disadvantages and potential for injury from kicks and elbows.
Terence Crawford isn’t keen on a crossover bout with Conor McGregor. Nope, not happening.
Last week, during a Duelbits livestream, McGregor dived into various combat sports topics. He shared his thoughts on UFC champs and even his GOAT list. Oh, and he hinted at a potential boxing return, mentioning talks of crossover fights with Crawford, backed by Turki Alalshikh and Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
“Crawford is very slick,” McGregor mused. “He’s got wrestling chops too. They keep chatting about belts with me. I’ve already boxed a boxer. How ’bout getting a boxer to do MMA with me? I’m the biggest revenue generator.”
McGregor continued, “We discussed a two-fight deal. I called Crawford right then… told him they want us for an MMA fight first, then boxing. There’s hundreds of millions on the table. But he was like, ‘I don’t want to take a kick.’ Gotta respect that.”
And it seems that chat truly happened, just as McGregor described.
On Tuesday, Crawford confirmed this in a chat with Bernie Tha Boxer. He stood by McGregor’s story and made it clear: no cage fights for him.
“I told Conor, hell no!” Crawford exclaimed. “They reached out for the fight. We talked it over, but I said, ‘I’m not stepping into an octagon with you. No way I’m taking kicks and elbows.'”
McGregor chuckled and said, “Man, I respect that. You get my sport like I get yours. In the octagon, you’d be at a disadvantage; same for me in the ring. But we’d make loads of money!” Crawford replied that sometimes it’s not all about cash—those kicks and elbows are no joke.
Crawford’s one of the top pound-for-pound boxers globally and one of three men to hold undisputed titles in two weight classes during the four-belt era. Recently, he moved up in weight again, snagging the WBA and WBO interim light middleweight titles after defeating Israil Madrimov in August.
So there you have it: mutual respect but no crossover chaos—for now at least!