Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reported Friday discussions are in the “exploratory phase,” but he added there are “many, many” hurdles to overcome before the idea would become a reality.
The Herd with Colin Cowherd noted UFC President Dana White made a formal offer to Mayweather, which would see each fighter receive $25 million guaranteed. From there, they would negotiate how the pay-per-view money would be split.
Brian Campbell of ESPN.com passed along comments Mayweather made Wednesday on First Take about the possible cross-sport clash, and he made it clear he wants nine figures to come out of retirement.
“We tried to make the Conor McGregor fight,” he said. “They know what my number is. My number is a guaranteed $100 million. That was my number.”
In addition, he stated his camp offered McGregor a guaranteed $15 million before the PPV discussions. One thing he didn’t do, however, was rule out the possibility completely, per Campbell:
You guys keep hearing all these different rumors about different fighters want to face Floyd Mayweather. Everybody keeps talking about Conor McGregor. He’s blowing smoke up everybody’s a–. Dana White, the UFC — let’s make it happen. Bring him over to the boxing world, and I’ll show him what it’s like.
Alas, that $75 million gap is a massive one to bridge before the talks could even advance to a stage where they would discuss rules, both in terms of the fight itself and the drug-testing standards.
Here’s another key problem: The mainstream sports audience will be extremely hesitant to accept the hype about a marquee fight after the clunker between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. That was on the table for years and didn’t come anywhere close to expectations when it finally came to fruition.
The same would likely hold true with McGregor involved. It’s far-fetched to believe he could transition from the world of MMA to boxing and beat one of the greatest ever.
On the flip side, it’s hard to imagine any plausible scenario in which Mayweather would even spend a second thinking about an MMA battle. Bleacher Report
Here’s Dana White on Colin Cowherd’s radio show making the supposedly official offer that stirred up this pot yet again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDtsMX2jtOU
LOL. You gotta love Floyd cause he’s soooooo right and he KNOWS it. Granted that’s not how it goes 100% of the time for Floyd, there was that whole “he can’t read” thing a couple years back, but he’s hammering this one home and treating this whole thing just like he does inside the ring, patiently waiting to counter and knock the proverbial lights out.
In all seriousness though this offer is absurd. Let’s look at the facts here, Floyd is 49-0, tied for the best record of all time in any weight class. McGregor has never stepped foot in a professional boxing ring. Floyd made $180 Million for his part in MayPac back in 2015. McGregor’s highest paid fight was a reported $10-12M. Floyds highest rated fight drew 4.4 Million viewers. McGregors highest rated fight? 1.6 Million viewers.
I don’t agree with what Dana said about this being Floyd’s “Money fight” and as for all the “why do you think you’re the A side” talk, well see above Dana, it’s pretty damn clear cut. Money, fame, and records are three things Floyd Mayweather doesn’t have issues with. Then there’s the whole, “what does Floyd have to gain from this” narrative. which holds water, because he really doesn’t stand to gain anything aside from money out of this fight. Which is the exact reason why this fight will happen on Floyd’s terms and Floyd’s terms only. His starting price is $100M guaranteed, he’ll get every penny plus more if this fight ever has a thought of happening.
Looking at it in plain black and white and really any shade of gray you want to mess around with, Dana’s offer was laughable, Floyd really does know a “Fucking Comedian” when he sees one.
P.S. Love how everyone is acting like we don’t know the exact outcome of this fight. It’s a boxing match, McGreggor will last exactly as long as Floyd wants him to, and not a second longer.
