Crawford calls McGregor's $200 million crossover offer claim 'a lie'

Retired unbeaten boxing champion Terence Crawford has publicly contradicted Conor McGregor’s claim that a $200 million two-fight crossover deal — one bout in boxing, one in MMA — was offered and declined, telling journalist Ariel Helwani the story was simply untrue.

McGregor had previously stated the offer came via Saudi sports official Turki Al-Sheikh and that Crawford was the one who walked away from it. Crawford, whose final professional fight was a victory over Canelo Alvarez, rejected that version of events entirely.

“That was a lie. It was cap. It wasn’t never no $200 million offer,” Crawford said. “They asked me would I do it, and I told them, ‘You ain’t about to be kicking on me, Conor.’ We were on FaceTime, and I did tell him that. But they didn’t say, ‘Hey, you got $200 million. You fight him in boxing and MMA.’ That was never the case. If it was said to me, I could say there was an offer, but if nothing is previewed to me, I can’t say what is what. He’s making up numbers, in my head.”

Crawford did acknowledge that had a genuine offer of that magnitude been presented, he would have accepted it — though he added that his circumstances have since changed following retirement.

“I would have done it. Why wouldn’t I? I don’t need to do it [now]. 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… Back then, I probably would have took it.”

The denial adds a fresh complication to the narrative McGregor has been building around his return to competition. The Irishman is scheduled to face Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329, a bout that represents the penultimate fight on his current UFC contract.