Conor McGregor on Floyd Mayweather: 'He needs me, I don't need him'

Conor McGregor didn't dismiss a showdown with retired boxer Floyd Mayweather, but said Mayweather needs him more than he needs Mayweather to get the big bucks during an ESPN interview on Sunday morning.

"It was him that leaked the rumor," McGregor said. "He gets $100 million, and I get $7 million? That is a pay cut to me. I don't take pay cuts. I thought boxing was where the money was at. Seven million is absolutely laughable. He's talking $100 million. I'm also talking $100 million. I'm 27 years of age and I'm just about halfway through a $100 million contract.

"At 27 years of age, Floyd Mayweather was on Oscar de la Hoya's undercard. Compare that. Who doesn't want to conquer both worlds? He's getting old now. I have the size, I have the reach, I have the height. I have the youth. He needs me, I don't need him. That's the truth of it. Who else he can fight? He fights someone else in the boxing realm, all of a sudden the pay goes from $100 million to $15 million. He needs me. If he wants to talk, we can talk, but it's me who is in control here."

McGregor is also fine with it being a boxing match instead of an MMA fight.

"I don't really care about rules," McGregor said. "He can make all the rules he wants. I know he will not want to fight in a mixed martial arts contest in a true fight. If he wants to fight in a limited fight, that's no problem we can do that. I will set a aside the many forms of fighting that I practice in and I will focus on one particular craft."

UFC president Dana White has said multiple times that McGregor has a UFC contract that would preclude him from boxing Mayweather, but that Mayweather should call him if interested.