Morning Report: Floyd Mayweather says it’s ‘50-50’ he competes in MMA before end of 2018

If you’ve been following this space lately, you may have heard that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is planning on trying his hand at MMA, or at least considering it. Last week, Mayweather said he was going to apply for an MMA license and just this past weekend, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley announced that he and Mayweather had been talking and were planning on beginning his MMA training this week. But for all the hubbub about Mayweather making the jump to MMA, apparently it’s far from set in stone.

Speaking with FightHype.com recently, Mayweather announced that he has already begun the process of training for a possible fight and that he’s “very interested” in MMA but puts the odds of him actually fighting in the cage at just 50 percent.

“I started training already,” said Mayweather. “Not the physical part, just the endurance part. I’m thinking about fighting in MMA. I’ve thought about it. I started training in Miami. I look forward to fighting probably at the end of the year. We don’t know. Right now it’s 50/50, it’s not 100 percent but I’ve already started training. . . I really don’t know yet but I’m very, very interested. We’ll just see. Everything takes time. Everything takes time.”

Mayweather retired from boxing last August after defeating Conor McGregor in the MayMac superfight spectacle that moved his professional boxing record to 50-0. It was ostensibly the last time anyone would ever see Mayweather engage in unscripted combat but allure of another potential nine-figure payday against McGregor seems to have sparked enough of an interest to keep Mayweather in the conversation. And though he admits he’s not sure if and when he would fight again, it seems obvious that a McGregor rematch is what he’s after.

“I can’t really say how things are gonna play out,” said Mayweather. “I’m a numbers man. I’m all about the numbers. If the numbers like [a McGregor rematch], we can make it happen. One thing about me, I’m never ducking no fighters. So, Conor McGregor – tough, vicious competitor. Just like he feels he’s got dynamite hands with the four-ounce gloves on, I feel like I’ve got dynamite power with the four-ounce gloves on. In our fight he said there’s no way he’s gonna get knocked out with eight ounce gloves on. I feel like he was complaining about the ref stopping it but if the ref wanted me to really actually kill a guy, he could have let that happen, but he saved him.”

Mayweather stopped McGregor with a flurry of punches in the tenth round that had the UFC lightweight champion reeling on the ropes, though never dropped him. But though Mayweather won the fight by stoppage, McGregor vastly outperformed expectations, winning some of the early rounds and hitting Mayweather with some hard shots. Even in defeat, it was a star-expanding performance for McGregor as he was party to the second biggest pay-per-view event of all time, and that, it seems is what calls to Mayweather: the chance to put on one more grand spectacle.

“I know right now I’m the biggest name in MMA, hands down,” claimed Mayweather. “I know this. And the second biggest name is Conor McGregor. I know this.

“It’s all about entertainment. I love having fun. The first two or three rounds, I wasn’t even doing anything, I was letting him do what he do. But in MMA it would be totally different because we don’t have no shoes on and with four-ounce gloves on – you think I’m fast with eight-ounce gloves on, imagine how fast I’d be with four-ounce gloves on.”