Conor McGregor weighed in on the wild Canelo Alvarez vs. Jake Paul fight fallout.
Negotiations between Canelo Alvarez, Jake Paul, and their respective teams for a potential boxing fight reached the rhetorical ‘one-yard line’ this week. But despite reports that the fight was in the last stages of negotiations, Alvarez pulled out of the Paul fight talks at the last minute, signing a new four-fight deal with Riyadh Season and Turki Alalshikh.
Alvarez’s new deal includes a super fight with Terence Crawford in September and a targeted bout against either Jermall Charlo or Bruno Surace. If Alvarez revisits the Paul fight, it appears it won’t take place until as soon as late 2026.
Paul accused Alvarez of being a ‘slave’ after their fight talks fell apart. As of this writing, Alvarez hasn’t responded to Paul’s harsh remarks, as he plots his return for Cinco de Mayo weekend.
In addition to the Alvarez fight, Paul was also briefly linked to a potential scrap with Conor McGregor. McGregor, who hasn’t fought in the UFC Octagon since 2021, was in ‘preliminary agreements’ to face Logan Paul before the UFC allegedly shut down negotiations.
Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images
McGregor, Jake, and Logan had a viral run-in during their appearances in Washington D.C. for the recent U.S. presidential inauguration. While their interactions were mostly cordial, all parties got some verbal jabs in before they went their separate ways.
After Paul’s manifested bout with Alvarez fell apart, it didn’t take long for McGregor to weigh in, courtesy of a recent Instagram comment.
“Turki [Alalshikh] does not mess around,” McGregor commented. “Planner/Executioner extraordinaire! Bravo [Turki and Canelo].”
McGregor’s super fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017 set the stage for inexperienced boxers to face world champion-caliber fighters inside the ring. If the Paul vs. Alvarez fight had come to fruition this year, it would’ve been the toughest fight of Paul’s career by a considerable margin, after recent wins over McGregor’s two-time rival Nate Diaz and heavyweight boxing legend Mike Tyson.
After McGregor’s desired fights with Logan and Jake fell through the cracks, he’s still targeting a UFC return by year’s end. He was supposed to headline UFC 303 last year against Michael Chandler before withdrawing due to injury.
McGregor was briefly in talks to face Manny Pacquiao in a 2021 boxing match before fight talks fell through at the last minute. He went on to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 257, losing by knockout before falling to Poirier in their UFC 264 trilogy fight.
In the aftermath of the canceled Alvarez vs. Paul fight, McGregor praised Alvarez and his team for changing course in a big way. Now that Paul remains without an opponent for his next fight, McGregor is a potential future option, but he’d have to persuade the UFC brass to give him the green light.
BoxingCanelo AlvarezConor McGregorJake PaulMMAUFC
