McGregor says Mayweather fight likely at end of year

BoxingNews24.com

By Allan Fox: UFC star Conor McGregor says he feels very confident that a fight between him and boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be taking place towards the end of this year. If the Mayweather-McGregor fight doesn’t happen this year, then in early 2018, says McGregor. He says that it can’t be stopped.

UFC president Dana White says he doesn’t think the fight is going to happen. He also seems to be sending McGregor a warning about him taking the fight without permission. McGregor says he thinks he can take the fight due the Ali act. It should be interesting to see if the UFC can stop McGregor from going ahead and competing in a boxing fight with Mayweather.

With the amount of money on the line and the publicity that McGregor would receive in the fight, it might end up helping the UFC gain more popularity because McGregor would receive a lot of attention from the boxing world. The fight would almost surely be a terrible mismatch, but it should help McGregor become more popular if he doesn’t lose too badly.

“Here’s what I think the chances are: about the same as me being the backup quarterback for [Tom] Brady on [Super Bowl] Sunday,” said White to UFC on Fox about a potential fight between McGregor and Mayweather. “When you’re about to go on and do a pay-per-view that you’re charging people $5 to listen to you talk, I’m sure you got to say some pretty crazy [expletive]. I’ve always shown Conor nothing but the respect and if he wants to go down that road with us, let me tell you, it’ll be an epic fall!”

If the UFC doesn’t want McGregor to fight Mayweather, then they can definitely try and block him. If it goes to court, it’s anyone’s guess how long it could take for it to be finally settled. If it drags on for a year or two, then it might be pointless for the fight to get made by that time.

Mayweather is hitting 40 now, and hasn’t fought in a year and a half. If he stays out of the ring for another or two while the McGregor things gets decided, he’ll likely lose a lot of boxing fans due to his inactivity. Right now, Mayweather might be still popular enough to make a fight against McGregor a success. It’s hard to tell.

Mayweather’s last fight against Andre Berto in 2015 brought in low PPV buys compared to what he’d been accustomed to getting in the past. That could have been due to boxing fans hating his choice of opponent in Berto or the fight fans might have been angry at the poor effort Mayweather put in his Fight of the Century against Manny Pacquiao in May 2015. Boxing fans were asked to pay sky-high prices for a fight that failed to produce any real drama, excitement or effort from the two fighters.

“I have my eyes on one thing and that’s the Floyd Mayweather fight,” said McGregor. “Floyd’s offer is $15 million. Dana’s is $25 million. I’m sitting in my house watching the millions go up. This is alright. Me and Floyd have got to get together and talk and figure it out the way that him and Manny figured it out. Once you come to my number, a set number and I’m happy with and he’s happy with, then we go to the customers, then we go to the promoters, the buyers and then we get it done. We’ll come to a dotted line. There’s a lot of steps to do to get the fight done, but it’s a fight to make, and it’s a fight that people want. It’s a fight that I want. I’m confident going in there. I’ve got the reach, the youth, I’ve got the confidence. I’ve got the unpredictable style. Mayweather has never prepared for a style like mine. I’m going to go conquer two worlds,” said McGregor.

When asked if he believes that the UFC management will allow him to fight Mayweather inside the boxing ring, McGregor said, “I believe so. With the Ali act, I believe I can. I’ve done good business with the UFC and Dana. Everyone has got to know their place. There’s the UFC and the newly formed McGregor promotions. Nobody is my boss. I know Floyd likes to say that Dana is my boss. Hell no. If they let people go fight in Ju Jitsu tournaments, they can’t prevent me from fighting inside a boxing ring. Everybody has got to know their place, and everyone does know their place. I’m happy that an offer was made. I’m happy he made the offer. If Manny and Floyd did half a billion, this is the first billion dollar fight. People have got to pay for a billion dollar fight. He’s the scared side. Let’s be honest. He’s not trying to have a real fight. He needs rules to protect him. I don’t need rules. He can say he’s this or that, but in reality he’s scared [expletive]. Let’s have a good knock under specific rules to keep you alive. It’s hard to go back now because I’m hunting now. I believe it could happen by the end of this year or early next year. My fist is bigger than his head. I know every shot he’s been hit with. II know every shot he’s been hurt with. I know everything. I don’t care what set of rules it’s under. I’m going to teach him about true fighting. If I land one on his dome, anywhere on the dome, he’s going to know about it. I believe the next time I step foot inside a combat arena, it will be through the ropes wearing 10 ounce or 8 ounce gloves. For him, I’ll sit for another year. This is historic. Sometimes you have to be patient with situations, and this is one of them. They’ve already stripped me of one belt. I feel the Floyd fight will happen, and then I’ll be back in,” said MGregor.