Wow, Conor McGregor Just Got a License to Box in Califonia

Is he really going to fight Floyd Mayweather?

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is now a licensed boxer in the state of California. On Wednesday evening, McGregor’s management team confirmed that the 28-year-old has been issued the necessary license to box in the Golden State. 

“I’d love to see him fight in California,” Andy Foster of the California State Athletic Commission told MMAFighting.com. “It just needs to be the right opponent. Certainly a high-level opponent. We’re happy to license him. We’re happy he’s a California fighter.”

Given the long flirtation between McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, it’s hard not to wonder if this opens the door for the 49-0 superstar to come out of retirement and meet McGregor in the ring. But there’s a long way to go before that happens. McGregor is still under contract with the UFC, which would have to allow him into the ring if he were to make the transition to boxing. Don’t count on that.

There are a host of reasons why the UFC wouldn’t want its biggest star to get into a boxing ring, especially opposite Mayweather. But the best one is that he would get stomped. Or as Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN, “He would get his ass beat from pillar to post.”

In the end, it’s a good guess that getting this license has little to do with McGregor actually wanting to box and everything to do with him sending a message to the UFC. Last weekend the promotion unceremoniously stripped him of his featherweight championship, something he previously said would take an army to accomplish. McGregor has yet to make a public statement about it, but getting his boxing license might count as one now.