Terence Crawford is calling bluff on Conor McGregor’s story about a $200 million crossover package, saying the number was never actually put in front of him, even though he admits he likely would have taken that kind of deal at the time. McGregor had just gone on Ariel Helwani’s show and said he, Crawford, and Turki Alalshikh discussed a two-fight setup, MMA first, boxing second, before Crawford shut it down because he did not want to be kicked. Crawford responded saying it was never offered.
Terence Crawford Denies Conor McGregor’s $200 Million Two-Fight Deal Story
Terence Crawford is shutting down Conor McGregor’s version of their old super-fight talks, and he did it in plain terms. Speaking on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Crawford said, “That was a lie. It was cap. There was never a $200 million offer,” while confirming there was a conversation involving McGregor and Turki Alalshikh, just not one where that figure was formally pitched to him. Crawford said he did tell McGregor on FaceTime, “You ain’t about to be kicking on me, Conor,” but he drew a line between joking about the MMA side and actually turning down a real $200 million package.
That is a direct response to what McGregor said days earlier during his own Helwani appearance. McGregor claimed he got Crawford on the phone and told him, “We’ve got a big deal for you. It’s hundreds of millions, $200 million to be exact. Mixed martial arts against me, and a boxing one against you,” before adding that Crawford replied, “I don’t want to be kicked by you. No way.” McGregor then took it a step further, saying, “I don’t know how as a man, or as a combatant, you couldn’t want to test yourself,” turning an old business discussion into a fresh public callout.
Crawford’s answer was not that he was scared of the matchup. It was that the offer, as McGregor described it, did not exist from his side of the table. He said, “If it was said to me, I could say there was an offer, but if nothing is privy to me, I can’t say what is what,” then added, “He’s making up numbers, in my head.” Crawford also made clear that timing changes everything, saying, “Back then, it would have been a good deal. Right now, where I’m sitting, I don’t need to do it,” which gives the whole back-and-forth a very different tone than a flat rejection.
Crawford is one of boxing’s top names of his era and has held undisputed championships across multiple divisions, including becoming the four-belt undisputed welterweight champion after stopping Errol Spence Jr., then later winning a world title at super welterweight, plus a blockbuster win over Canelo Alvarez. McGregor, meanwhile, remains one of the biggest draws MMA has produced, a former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion who became the promotion’s first simultaneous two-division titleholder.
The McGregor side of this story happens at a key time because he is lined up for a July return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 on July 11, his first trip back to the Octagon after a long layoff. That upcoming fight helps explain why his comments carried so much heat: he is back in promotion mode, back in headline mode, and back in the business of telling the world he still sees himself as “the daddy of the game.”
Crawford, though, sounded like a man who has no need to chase the circus now. He even said he would have done the deal if it had been real, asking, “Why wouldn’t I?” before stressing that, at this stage, he does not need it. So the real takeaway is not that Crawford ducked McGregor, it is that Crawford says McGregor sold a fantasy figure as fact, and he was not going to let that stand.
