BY JONAS TERRADO
Former UFC champion Conor McGregor once again hinted of a potential fight with Manny Pacquiao by tweeting two words in Filipino.
“Tinatanggap ko,” McGregor said on his Twitter account @TheNotoriousMMA Saturday, resulting in more than 1,100 replies, 7,400 retweets and 24,300 likes.
His tweet came a day after McGregor posted the words “I accept!” which led to some believing that it was directed at Sweden’s Khamzat Chimaev, who was coming off a first round TKO victory over Rhys McKee in last week’s UFC Fight Night 174.
But McGregor told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that the “I accept” tweet was not directed at Chimaev.
There’s been speculation of a possible fight between the two sports icons ever since McGregor lost to Floyd Mayweather via technical knockout in 2017.
In January, Pacquiao gave his best wishes to McGregor, who later beat Donald Cerrone by 40 seconds in his MMA return at UFC 246 in Las Vegas.
Two weeks ago, Pacquiao greeted McGregor on his 32nd birthday via Twitter, prompting the Irish fighter to respond by saying: “Thank you Emmanuel, 170.”
Three days ago, Pacquiao was reportedly to have been courted by an influential Macau group to fight in a lucrative exhibition match.
The group apparently got wind of a previous deal signed by Pacquiao that would have pit the fighting senator against a Japanese boxer in a three-round exhibition match in Papua New Guinea.
“The group initially wanted to stage a marquee card with Pacquiao as the main event but it’s too costly. But when they learned that Pacquiao was willing to be part of an exhibition event, that made the group talk about preparing an offer,” said the source.
Pacquiao fought twice in Macau, beating Mexican-American Brandon Rios in a regional title bout in 2013 then defended his WBO world welterweight crown the following year, decisioning Chris Algieri in their 12-round clash.