Conor McGregor Requires Promoter Title in Order to Make UFC Return: ‘They Must Entice Me’

It should come as no surprise that Conor McGregor doesn’t plan on returning to the UFC under the terms of his previous contract.

The UFC lightweight champion recently said that unifying the 155-pound title was his most likely next step. That would mean a showdown with interim titlist Tony Ferguson at a future date. However, in a scrum video filmed by SevereMMA.com at the premiere of his documentary “Notorious,” McGregor implied that the UFC would have to sweeten the pot significantly for him to return to the Octagon.

“They’ve got to entice me now because I came from a billion dollar fight. You’ve got to entice me with some equity, I want ownership, I want partner….I want to be true partners in this similar to the way I was in the Floyd fight,” McGregor said. “I was a promoter and I was a fighter. That must continue for me to continue. Otherwise I’ve got many entities and many interests that can carry on also. I’m already set. They must entice me.”

McGregor earned by far the largest payday of his career for boxing Floyd Mayweather on Aug. 26. While a $30 million purse was disclosed for the bout, it is projected that he garnered much more than that when factoring in pay-per-view buys and other unknown earnings. Either way, it far surpasses his largest payout under the UFC banner.

It’s not the first time McGregor has mentioned seeking a bigger piece of the UFC pie. After he defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, McGregor said that he would want an ownership stake in the company before his next bout. For now, it appears that McGregor and the UFC are still working out the details of his next appearance.

“We’re in negotiations,” he said. “I certainly love to fight. I certainly have a belt to defend and I’m certainly interested in that.”