Audie Attar thinks the UFC will try to keep Conor McGregor. He also thinks signing on the dotted line might cost his client more than it pays. In comments shared by Ariel Helwani on X on Wednesday, McGregor’s longtime manager sketched out how the Irishman’s career could wind down, and a separation from the promotion is very much part of the conversation.
“My instinct tells me they’ll try to keep him,” Attar said. “They want to have a great relationship with one of the greatest of all time, but if you look at what the UFC is doing, they’re going younger. They’re trying to cut costs and increase profit.”
Read that again with McGregor’s price tag in mind. A promotion trimming its budget and chasing younger talent is an awkward fit for the most expensive name it has ever employed, and Attar knows it.
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His bigger concern is freedom. An exclusive UFC contract would shut doors McGregor has kept cracked open for a while now.
“For Conor, I don’t know if he wants to be limited,” Attar said. “If he re-signs with the UFC, he can’t do BKFC. He can’t just go do a big boxing match. It wouldn’t be as fluid.”
One more fight, and maybe Max
Attar didn’t hedge on the timeline. “I think he fights his last fight. I think it happens towards the end of next year,” he said, which points to late 2027. “If he wants Max, then that’s what’s gonna happen. But so much happens between now and then.”
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That lines up with what McGregor has been saying. MMA Fighting’s Morning Report on Monday noted that McGregor is demanding a trilogy with Max Holloway and nothing else. A third fight between the two would carry real weight. McGregor is one of four fighters in UFC history to hold titles in two divisions at the same time, a club he shares with Amanda Nunes, Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo, per MMA Junkie’s UFC 334 pre-event facts.
The outside offers aren’t hypothetical either. Jake Paul recently posted a “Before I rest...” list on social media, and McGregor’s name sits on it alongside Canelo Alvarez, Ryan Garcia, Darren Till and Nate Diaz. Paul’s next stop is Cedric Doumbe on Dec. 24 at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.
Attar was careful to keep things warm with the people who sign the checks. “I think there’s a sense of gratitude from Dana and Hunter for Conor and what he did for the company,” he said.
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My take: this reads like a manager setting the table before negotiations, and it’s a smart table. Floating BKFC and boxing reminds the UFC that McGregor has other buyers, while dangling Holloway gives them the exact fight they’d want to sell. If the last McGregor fight in the octagon is Holloway 3 in late 2027, the UFC should pay whatever it takes and let him walk afterward to slap or box whoever he wants.
