Conor McGregor: UFC must 'entice me' after Floyd Mayweather fight

— -- UFC lightweight champion? Conor McGregor is attempting to use his leverage to get a bigger piece of the pie.

Appearing Wednesday in Dublin at the opening of his documentary, "Notorious," McGregor said he wasn't returning to the Octagon unless he added the title of UFC owner to his name.

"They've got to entice me now because I came from a billion dollar fight," McGregor told reporters. "They've got to entice me. I want equity. I want ownership. I want to be a true partner, similar in the way I was in the Floyd fight. I was a promoter and I was a fighter, and that must continue for me to continue."

McGregor, who held his own in a loss to Floyd Mayweather in his professional boxing debut in August, previously said the three UFC fights he fought in 2016 made him a combined $40 million. He received a guaranteed check of $30 million for his fight with Mayweather, and his total payday likely approached $100 million after splitting a piece of it with the UFC.

Last year, McGregor started pushing the equity angle, but UFC president Dana White said at the time that the only way McGregor would become an owner was if he bought in.

Perhaps not anymore.

"Conor is Conor," White told ESPN on Thursday in New York. "If anybody deserves that stuff it's freaking Conor. Conor is the real deal and he's a huge superstar, a global superstar and we will get a deal done."

McGregor appears to have leverage because he has proved to be the UFC's biggest star. His last fight, at UFC 205 in New York in November 2016, generated $17.7 million in ticket sales, roughly eight times the gate of a normal UFC fight card.

Beyond that, the UFC has had a tougher time creating other stars on his level and also recently lost two of its biggest stars over a 13-month period, Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones, who failed a second drug test after UFC 214 and faces up to a four-year suspension.

Despite the struggles, the recent cashout of White's partners, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, reportedly resulted in a new valuation for the organization of $5 billion, up from the $4 billion WME-IMG paid for it last July.

What could motivate White, who made more than $300 million in the UFC sale more than a year ago, is that his salary is tied to the UFC's future profits.

"I don't ever get whatever about anyone coming back or whether they want to retire," White said. "I said leading up to the Mayweather fight that you might never see Conor again when you get a taste of that kind of money. I feel like he does want to fight, so we'll figure it out."

McGregor, who started selling a training program and announced a branded whisky after the Mayweather fight said he has "many entities and many other interests than can carry on."

The year anniversary of McGregor's last UFC fight is in 10 days.

Said McGregor: "I'm already set."