Mayweather vs McGregor: Let's Get Ready to Get It On!

[Mitch Henessey]

Call up Rakim because Floyd Mayweather is thinking up a "master plan."

In recent weeks the combat sports world has been abuzz with rumors of pound-for-pound boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr. coming out of retirement to box UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor. McGregor, who is currently in a dispute with the UFC, posted to his Twitter a mocked up fight poster showing himself and Mayweather facing off. Since then Mayweather and his team have stirred up interest by commenting about the likelihood of a potential fight. The talk quickly consumed the MMA world and UFC president Dana White responded saying that Mayweather should call him if he really wants to make the fight.

Well it doesn't appear that Mayweather has taken White up on his offer yet, but he is still confident the bout with McGregor will happen. Over the weekend Mayweather, spoke to ESNEWS about the McGregor fight, why he wants to make it happen, and saying it is the only fight he will come out of retirement for.

"If I do fight, it's only against Conor McGregor. That's gonna be my only fight and not against nobody else because this matchup is just so intriguing. You have a fighter against an MMA fighter, one of the best MMA fighters to do combat and stand up and do it. He's a strong fighter and when I look at him fight he's a little faster than I thought he was so if the fight happens I can't overlook the guy. I'm pretty sure - if we make the fight happen - I'm pretty sure he's gonna push me to the limit."

But how to make the fight happen is yet to be determined. McGregor is under contract with the UFC so any bout between the two (barring some intense legal battles) would have to be co-promoted with Zuffa, something the company has been wary of doing in the past. Mayweather offered no answers to that particular impediment but he did say that they had begun to get the ball rolling in preparation for the theoretical bout.

"I'm pretty sure we're gonna have a master plan to make that fight happen. It hasn't happened yet, but we locked down some dates. Me and my team, me and Al Haymon, me and Leonard Ellerbe we locked down some dates in different countries, in different cities in the United States. And you already know what my number is, 100 million [dollars]. That's just the guarantee. We don't talk about my number on the back end."

In a separate interview with Steve Farhood of Showtime Sports, Mayweather mentions that neither venue nor compensation have been decided yet; locking down dates and possible venues is the first step in that direction. But the compensation may be a hang up. The 100 million guarantee plus back end compensation would likely be one major sticking point for the UFC who often appear reluctant to set precedents that future fighters can leverage against them. However, the sheer amount of money the superfight could bring in may override that sensibility. Mayweather certainly believes it would be enormous.

"He's tough. He's a tough competitor. You know every time he goes out there and fights, when he kicks ass he kicks ass in a standup position. So if the fight does happen, I truly believe it's going to be record-breaking...With my numbers for the Pacquiao fight I know we was at 4.6, I know we're somewhere around 5 million now. 5 million homes. Pay per view. And even if we're not at 5 million it sounds good. I know we're over 4.6 so we gonna say 5 million. We probably can break that number. It's possible. Anything is possible."

Mayweather's fight with Manny Pacquiao is the highest grossing pay per view event of all time and while passing it seems unlikely, selling 2-3 million is plausible considering the star power involved and the casual intrigue of the match-up. Selling 2 million would still be the highest grossing pay per view the UFC has been involved with and 3 million would blow their most successful ventures out of the water.

But unlike those other ventures, the UFC would only be getting a portion of that lucrative windfall. As Mayweather noted, he would get paid on the back end of that as would his promotional team, and of course Conor McGregor would take home a goodly sum too. Zuffa has already shown a willingness to pass up on big paydays on principle (whatever those principles may be) when they pulled McGregor from UFC 200. Moreover, Mayweather even mentioned (while talking about Jon Jones) that not all promoters like his business.

"Jon Jones is with the MMA but we still gotta communicate and put some things together, me and him. We'd love Jon Jones to be a part of TMT. We steady growing. And it's not just about us making money it's about the talent winning. That's what we believe and that's why so many promoters hate us and dislike us, because we believe in the talent winning when it's all said and done."

And therein may lie the rub. The UFC believes in the UFC winning. Mayweather obviously stands an enormous amount to gain; he gets to make well over $100 million dollars, move past Rocky Marciano's iconic 49-0 mark to an undefeated record of 50-0, and gets to do so while facing the easiest opponent of his boxing career, likely scoring his first KO since 2011. McGregor also stands to make a substantial amount of money, suffer no real detriment to his personal brand, and propel his Q rating even further through the roof than it already is. But the UFC has less to gain. They give ground to other fighters with regard to co-promotion and pay while also leading their biggest star to certain defeat. Quite reasonably, the UFC may view a fight between McGregor and Mayweather as a long term loss to themselves despite the immediate financial rewards. Regardless, Mayweather remains hopeful.

"I think it's gonna be so entertaining if we can do it, if we can put a boxer with an MMA fighter, because I can't overlook that guy. Me, myself, I'm not gonna overlook him. We haven't made the fight happen yet but if we can tweak a few things I'm pretty sure we can get him, not a good payday but a great payday."

http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/5/16...-against-conor

It's a longshot, if this ever happens, and personally I can't say I'm all that excited for a McGregor VS Mayweather super fight.

I'm sure it'll generate tons of buzz and the fight will break numerous records, but I have a feeling the fight will follow a path that resembles Pacquiao VS Mayweather. The build up with the weigh-in, the staredowns, the interviews, and all the trash talking will be more entertaining than the actual fight, and there's no way the fight will live up to the enormous hype machine behind it, and all the grandiose expectations. Mayweather has built a profitable persona as this narcissistic, flashy, and egotistical antihero over the years, and Mayweather coming out of retirement for one more fight against McGregor is worthy of headlines, but when it's all said done, I highly doubt McGregor VS Maywether will be worth the hefty price tag on PPV.

[Jack-Hammer]

I can't say that I'm all that interested either because I don't particularly like either one of them. That's not to say that they're not great at what they do, because it's abundantly clear that they are, it's just that they're both dislikeable people. McGregor lost to Nate Diaz a few months back, his first loss in the UFC, though he's still UFC Featherweight Champion as Diaz was his debut fight as a welterweight. Ultimately, it'd be two assholes with god complexes looking to earn a massive payday.

Mayweather is a great fighter, there's no denying it. A total of 27 of his 49 professional fights have been championship fights and he's undefeated. As a person, the guy's a raving ego maniac who has a history of domestic abuse and a history of public homophobic slurs. He made $220 million from his fight with Manny Pacquiao, which is an absolutely obscene amount of money for a single fight, and I've little interest in making him wealthier.

At the same time, it's hard to believe anything that McGregor says as the guy's just a massive windbag who says or Tweets things just to stir shit up. As a result, this could be nothing more than pure publicity.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

As much as I hate Floyd Mayweather, he's one of, if not the greatest boxer of all time. Mayweather would pick apart Conor round after round with speed, like a little bird picking at his food, until Conor is spent in the later rounds and can't compete vs Floyd anymore. The only chance Conor would have is an early flurry and hope for a K.O. (but that's risky due to counter punches)

[OYDK]

I guess it would be cool, but would McGregor really have a shot against Mayweather? I remember watching a McGregor interview maybe a month back, where he said that he would have no problem stepping into a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather, and if the fight were to happen, it would be a boxing match moreso than an MMA fight. All I have to say to that is, good luck Conor.

Personally, I don't want to see Floyd Mayweather get handed another 300 mil or whatever crazy number he's likely to get. I heard somewhere that if this fight were to actually go down, win or lose Mayweather would get something like 80% of the purse. McGregor strikes me as somebody who just wants to make the money out of this match and doesn't really give a shit about the outcome. Like another poster said, these guys are both ego-maniacs who really couldn't care less about their professions, and because of that, I can easily see this turn into a circus or a farce.

Lastly, White has come out and said that McGregor can't book his own fights because of his contract with the UFC or some clause or other. Apparently, UFC are the only ones legally able to book a Conor McGregor fight and they are completely against this whole thing. I don't see it happening, and quite frankly, I don't know how I'd feel about it if it did.

EDIT: Sorry for re-iterating OP, didn't read the blob.

[OYDK]

So by now I'd assume pretty much everybody has, at one time or another, heard of the long-running "feud" between the iconic boxer Floyd Mayweather and UFC legend Conor McGregor, which first began nearly two years ago after McGregor proposed that he would fight Mayweather if the opportunity ever arose. Since then, the two fighters have been verbally sparring back and forth with little happening in terms of setting up an actual bout between the two (and with many fight fans generally assuming it would never happen), but that all changed within the past 24 hours. The date has finally been set. Conor McGregor will take on Floyd Mayweather in a mega-money boxing match on August 26th in Las Vegas at either the MGM Grand or T-Mobile Arena, barring any injuries or shenanigans of course.

Now personally, while I don't necessarily like Conor McGregor, and while it's highly unlikely, I hope he knocks the shit out of Floyd Mayweather. This will probably be Mayweather's last fight ever with the boxer hoping to finish his career at 50-0, and I would love to see him lose his undefeated streak at the hands of a "non-boxer" so to speak. Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, I don't like Floyd much. Still, petty hatred aside, both guys are undoubtedly looking to make an enormous amount of money from this fight, and PPV records are likely to be smashed. I know I'll be watching.

Discuss, friendos.

[LBGetBack]

I hope Floyd beats the brakes off that clown. Will be interesting to watch if it happens.

[Sai the Uganda Guy]

I can't stand either guy, so I have zero interest in watching this. That said, OP described it well as a mega money match, as they're both money printers for their respective sports.

[LBGetBack]

Originally Posted by Flobbie Flotten

I can't stand either guy, so I have zero interest in watching this. That said, OP described it well as a mega money match, as they're both money printers for their respective sports.

Yeah, I should clarify that I'm not much of a Floyd fan personally. I respect the hell out of him as a boxer and enjoy watching him fight, but he's not all that likable of a persona.

I'm rooting hard for him on some boxing pride stuff though. I'm not a big MMA guy and I find a lot of MMA fans annoying. I'm definitely a boxing guy. I suspect I won't be alone from that standpoint.....lots of boxing and MMA fans who don't even particularly like the fighters will be interested and will root for the guy representing their sport.

[Sai the Uganda Guy]

Originally Posted by LBGetBack

Yeah, I should clarify that I'm not much of a Floyd fan personally. I respect the hell out of him as a boxer and enjoy watching him fight, but he's not all that likable of a persona.

I'm rooting hard for him on some boxing pride stuff though. I'm not a big MMA guy and I find a lot of MMA fans annoying. I'm definitely a boxing guy. I suspect I won't be alone from that standpoint.....lots of boxing and MMA fans who don't even particularly like the fighters will be interested and will root for the guy representing their sport.

I love both sports, which I guess is the issue for me. Neither guy draws me in the regard of rooting for a certain sport's athlete. If it were someone I enjoyed more in one spot rather than the other, perhaps I would see it different, e.g. if Manny Pacquiao were the boxer involved, or Cain Velasquez the MMA fighter.

[Khalifa]

Either way it's a win/win for me. Conor says he is humble in victory but I would like to see what he says after beating Floyd. At the same time, Conor needs to be taken down a few notches. I reckon Floyd would be so devastated losing to McGregor aft r already retiring at 49-0. Definitely going to watch it and will be rooting for Floyd more than Conor. I expect Floyd to make Conor look silly as well. Might be close in the first couple rounds but Floyd should pull away.