Terence Crawford is setting the record straight on Conor McGregor’s claim that a $200 million two-bout deal was on the table for a boxing and MMA crossover event.
Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, the retired pound-for-pound king pushed back on McGregor’s story, calling it flat-out false.
“That was a lie. It was cap,” Crawford said. “It wasn’t never no $200 million offer.”
Crawford acknowledged that there was some level of contact, including a FaceTime conversation, but said the conversation never reached anything close to a formal proposal.
“They asked me what I would do and I told them. I said, ‘Man, I ain’t about to let you be kicking on me, Conor.’ We was on FaceTime and I did tell them that. But they didn’t say, ‘Hey, you got $200 million, you compete against him in boxing and fig ht him in MMA.’ That was never the case.”
When Helwani pressed him on whether such a deal could have eventually gotten there, Crawford was clear about where he stood.
He said, “If it was said to me, then I could say it was an offer. But if nothing is previewed to me, I can’t say what is what. He’s making up numbers.”
Then came the most surprising admission of the conversation. Helwani asked Crawford directly: if they had come to him with $200 million for a two-match deal covering both MMA and boxing, would he have done it? Crawford did not hesitate. “Yeah, man.”
Crawford did add some important context around the timing. He noted the conversation happened before his historic win over Canelo Alvarez, and that his circumstances have since changed considerably.
“Back then, it would have been a good deal. Right now, where I’m sitting at right now, I don’t need to do it. That’s the thing,” he stated. “I’m in a different space in my life right now. Back then, I probably would have took it. I would have been like, ‘All right, let’s do it.'”
Crawford was also candid about how he would have approached the MMA side of the deal. “Conor’s not the best wrestler. I’m not saying I’m the best wrestler either,” he noted. “But I know standing up is only going to take one good shot and I’mma put him to sleep. He’s going to try to kick me and take me down. We just going to do what we do.”
As for McGregor, Crawford said there are no hard feelings, but he was not about to let the inflated narrative slide. He also pushed back on McGregor’s criticism that Crawford was out of line for commenting on Ilia Topuria’s performance while sitting ringside.
“I ain’t talk nothing about him. I just stated my opinion,” Crawford said. “I didn’t say anything negative in my heart. I just stated the opinion because that’s the first time I seen him compete.”
