Conor McGregor is back in action, but not exactly how his fans wanted. The former UFC champ, of course, is slated to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India sometime this year, with each man reportedly getting paid $250 million. But the question on every fight fan’s mind is- will they really fight? After all, their clash is an exhibition, which means scores won’t be kept, and no winner would be declared at the end of the fight.

However, that doesn’t mean the fans won’t be keeping score. Which brings us back to the question- will Paul and McGregor be happy to have a glorified sparring match, or will they actually, really fight each other? Well, Mike Tyson‘s former trainer and legendary boxing commentator, Teddy Atlas, addressed this question on his YouTube channel.

“I don’t know nothing about nothing except what you just said. At first glance, I would say one thing. I would think it’s going to be real, whatever real is, but as far as that McGregor is going to go in there and really try and Paul’s going to really try. I don’t have the same question mark I had [for the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight]… I’m going to say like McGregor when he went in with Mayweather, he’s going to go in there try to win the fight,” Atlas said.

Both McGregor and Paul have boxed Floyd Mayweather, and both indeed went in their respective fights with ‘Money’ to have a real fight. The only difference is that the Irishman’s Mayweather clash was a pro bout, while Paul’s was an exhibition. However, that didn’t stop the WWE star from trying to take Mayweather’s head off from the first bell. And Atlas sees Paul’s fight with McGregor being equally as intense. As far as the fight itself is concerned, Atlas had some bad news for ‘Mac’ fans.

Teddy Atlas rings alarm bells for Conor McGregor going into Logan Paul fight

Teddy Atlas thinks that the cards are very much stacked in Jake Paul’s favor. Why? We’ll let Atlas explain. “Obviously there’s things that are tilted in favor of Paul. He’s much bigger, he’s younger. I think McGregor’s 36 and Paul’s 29, right? Something like that. Seven year age difference… McGregor hasn’t come back to a real fight since he broke his ankle severely against Dustin what was that 4 years now, somewhere in that neighborhood,” the boxing commentary Hall of Famer said.

Indeed, Paul is significantly naturally bigger than McGregor. The American is 6’2″, three inches taller than the 5’9″ ‘Mac’. In addition, Paul’s billed weight is 205 pounds, while McGregor’s is 155 pounds. But that was ‘Mac’s fighting weight at lightweight, and the Irishman almost definitely weighs more than that when not fighting. Still, Paul outweighs him by a good ten or twenty pounds.

However, perhaps the most worrying part for McGregor fans, as Atlas pointed out, is the Irishman’s long period of inactivity. The Dubliner hasn’t fought for the past nearly four years since breaking his leg in two at UFC 264. This raises the question of whether he still has the reflexes and quickness to deal with the much younger and bigger Paul.

After all, with the size and, therefore, power difference between the two men, it could well take only one good shot from Paul to put ‘Mac’ on queer street. However, the  Teddy Atlas, as usual, is right on the money in his analysis. What do you think about Atlas’ take on the McGregor-Paul exhibition?