SEN. Manny Pacquiao advised Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) superstar Conor McGregor to focus on his UFC 257 main event fight against Dustin Poirier on Sunday at the Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
Pacquiao’s special assistant, Jayke Joson, said the eight-division world champion would be watching the fight on pay-per-view from his home in Makati City.
“The moment Senator MP signed up with the Paradigm Sports Management early last year, that was already part of their negotiations to set up their duel and it is really a no-brainer [that they will fight],” Joson told BusinessMirror on Wednesday in reaction to McGregor’s latest online comment.
Pacquiao, 42, expressed his desire to experience fighting an MMA champion and promised to donate most of his purse to Filipinos who fell victims tio Covid-19.
But McGregor, Joson said, should first dispose of Poirier to fine tune the contracts which Pacquiao’s business manager Arnold Vegafria and PSM President Audie Attar have been perfecting.
Vegafria said the Pacquiao camp and PSM camps would finalize the contracts after McGregor’s fight this weekend.
McGregor told sports.net.ca on Monday that his fight with Pacquiao this year is virtually a done deal.
“It’s almost a certainty,” McGregor said, adding “I am hearing there’s a contract and all coming. It’s that close. So…it should happen 2021. Like I said, I want to get my MMA game going a bit more, as well.”
