Conor McGregor announced his return to the boxing ring.

One of the most stellar fighters in MMA history has announced that he will fight Manny Pacquiao in the near future.

At the moment, he did not give an exact date, but he spoke about the place of the fight.

"Next I will have a boxing match with Manny Pacquiao in the Middle East," McGregor wrote on his Twitter page.

Thus, the Irishman will continue his streak of cash fights with the boxing legends.

In August 2017, he faced the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. and lost by TKO in the tenth round.

Compensation for the crushing defeat was a record in his career - at least $ 30 million, as well as growing popularity.

Despite the fact that recently boxing has seriously lost ground, it remains the oldest and most prestigious kind of martial arts, and participation in the next “fight of the century” could not but have a positive effect on Conor's status.

True, this did not affect his career in MMA in the best way.

Due to the temporary transition to another sport, McGregor had to significantly change his training method, which could not but affect his performances in the cage.

This was clearly seen in the duel with Khabib Nurmagomedov, during which the Irishman was not as strong in the stance as usual.

In addition, Conor was forced to adapt his body to other requirements and loads, which also cost him a lot of time.

As a result, only two fights in three years and the loss of the status of the main star of mixed martial arts.

Information about the organization of the fight between McGregor and Pacquiao has already been commented on in the camp of the world champion in eight weight categories.

Filipino aide Jake Joson confirmed that negotiations are indeed underway and said the fight could take place in 2021.

This correlates with recent statements by Dana White.

The UFC president admitted that he is "preparing" something for the Irishman at the beginning of 2021.

Only the words that Conor "will not necessarily fight" could have been misleading.

But taking into account the fact that we are talking about a battle according to the rules of boxing, and not MMA, the words of the functionary take on meaning.

It's worth noting that the news of the battle with Pacquiao not only made McGregor one of the most talked about fighters in the world again, but it was also served very well.

The Irishman, most likely, understood that many fans of mixed martial arts would be unhappy with his decision to again prefer the ring to the octagon, so he explained his decision to them very clearly.

At the same time, he did not even hesitate to post screenshots of personal correspondence with White, in which they discussed plans for 2020.

Conor urged Dana to organize his performance in Los Angeles, but he refused.

The reason for this was the restrictions on holding mass events during the spread of the coronavirus.

“I tried very hard to make this season happen.

Along the way, many different opponents and battle dates were proposed.

They had to go one by one.

But when the coronavirus hit, and they started talking about the fact that I would have to wait for the fans to return to the stands, I retired.

At this stage, I've already waited long enough, ”McGregor said.

As it became known from the correspondence, the ex-UFC champion in two weight categories was seriously interested in duels with Justin Gaethje and Diego Sanchez.

The stumbling block was the dates of the tournaments.

The Irishman did not want to wait until July and was going to fight in May, but the leadership did not go to meet him.

As a result, Gaethje knocked out Tony Ferguson and earned the right to face Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Sanchez got a fight with Jake Matthews at UFC 253.

“Diego Sánchez ... I saw your recent statements about the last fight.

I'm in.

After your fight with Pereira, I asked permission to arrange a fight for us in Dublin.

It was in February when I was working on finding opponents for my season.

Even before the coronavirus.

Good luck this weekend, ”wrote the Irishman.

On paper, the battle between McGregor and Pacquiao promises to be one of the highlights of the year in the world of martial arts and attract the attention of a huge audience.

The popularity of athletes is enough to create a huge stir around it, as well as to ensure high sales of paid broadcasts.

At the same time, it will hardly be possible to surpass the results of the fight between Conor and Floyd.

Then the fighters were at their peak, and the fans seriously believed in the sensational triumph of the Irishman.

Now it is unlikely that such an effect will be achieved.

McGregor has shown that, despite his outstanding standing skills by MMA standards, he is not able to compete on an equal footing with boxing stars.

Even at 41 years old, Pacquiao is in phenomenal shape and it is not for nothing that he owns the WBA welterweight title.

In the last two fights, he dealt with the talented Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman, showing that he did not give up positions at all.

The lack of intrigue will be compensated by the status of the fighters, massive promotion and outrageous behavior of McGregor.

There is no doubt that the Irishman will once again use his unique oratory skills and will surely attract both huge public interest and the attention of various sponsors.

Participants in the fight will be able to solidly replenish their bank accounts, and Conor will get a chance to set a new personal record for the size of the fee.

Nevertheless, this decision is likely to have a negative impact on the development of McGregor's career.

In fact, he can step on the same rake for the second time as before - to spend time performing in a sport in which he cannot get anything but fabulous income.

Conor is unlikely to decide to make a full transition to boxing, because there it will be extremely difficult for him to get even among the contenders for the title.

Each defeat will inflict a serious blow on his reputation and subsequently battles with his participation will no longer cause such a stir.

In addition, some of McGregor's claims seem strange enough.

So, on Twitter, he noted that the desire to fight according to the rules of boxing is due to the fact that it was decided to arrange his next fight in the UFC exclusively in the presence of fans.

Nevertheless, the same White offered him to fight in July, but this did not suit the Irishman.

Among other things, such box office battles as Kamaru Usman - Jorge Masvidal and Stipe Miocic - Daniel Cormé have already taken place without spectators.

And in less than a month, Nurmagomedov and Gatzhi will join the octagon.

In addition, McGregor's plans were to have a rematch with Khabib - potentially the largest fight in MMA history, which has every chance of setting a new record for sales of paid broadcasts.

No doubt the UFC had this in mind and would hardly risk organizing a fight of this magnitude for the sake of tens of thousands of tickets sold.

At the same time, there is no reason to believe that the organizers of the duel between McGregor and Pacquiao will agree to arrange it without spectators.

Since it is of interest primarily from a financial point of view, promoters will certainly try to get the maximum profit and will not agree to lose a substantial part of their income.

Thus, the Irishman risks missing not only almost the entire 2020, but also most of 2021, which is an unaffordable luxury for him.

Every year it becomes more difficult for the representatives of the light categories to compete with young opponents, and in July Conor celebrated his 32nd birthday.

Even if the battle can be held at the beginning of the year, then McGregor will need a lot of time to re-adapt his body for performances in MMA.

He risks losing from three to four months to six months, which will actually postpone his next entry into the octagon until the end of summer - autumn has begun.

The difference between the last performances will be about one and a half years, which will invariably affect the results.

Many fighters often complain of stiffness after long periods of inactivity.

Among other things, by this time there is a risk of losing the chance to take revenge on Nurmagomedov.

Khabib has repeatedly said that he would like to end his career with a 30-0 record, and by the spring of 2021, he may well reach his goal.

To do this, he needs to deal with Gatji in October, and then carry out another belt defense.

Taking into account the fact that the Russian prefers to fight in April-May, such a development of events seems quite real.