Author: Tyler Conway

Dana White Says Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor Fight Drew 6.5M PPV Buys

UFC President Dana White said Saturday’s fight in Las Vegas between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor drew 6.5 million pay-per-view buys in a conversation posted on Instagram by Mike Dyce of Sports Illustrated (warning: contains NSFW languag…

UFC President Dana White said Saturday’s fight in Las Vegas between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor drew 6.5 million pay-per-view buys in a conversation posted on Instagram by Mike Dyce of Sports Illustrated (warning: contains NSFW language):

White offered the buy number during a conversation with Urijah Faber and Snoop Dogg. Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting noted White was likely referring to the worldwide figure—not the number of buys in North America.

Meltzer reported the bout is expected to top numbers done by the Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight from 2015 in a number of other countries—the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland among the most notable—but “not necessarily” in the United States.

The U.S. numbers are most important for the overall gross because it was $99.95 here, rather than the cheaper prices available elsewhere in the world. Mayweather-Pacquiao did 4.6 million pay-per-view buys in North America and 5.5 million worldwide.

These do not include streaming numbers. The bout was made available by UFC.tv, though their streaming service had a number of issues. Cable providers also had trouble providing the event, which led to a brief delay for the beginning of the Mayweather-McGregor bout. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Floyd Mayweather’s Son, Koraun, Says His Dad Is Retired After Conor McGregor TKO

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has maintained his 10th-round TKO of Conor McGregor would be his last professional fight.
Now his son is backing him up.
Mayweather’s son, Koraun, told TMZ Sports there is “no chance” of a rematch between the two fighters.
“Of…

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has maintained his 10th-round TKO of Conor McGregor would be his last professional fight.

Now his son is backing him up.

Mayweather’s son, Koraun, told TMZ Sports there is “no chance” of a rematch between the two fighters.

“Officially done. He’s 40, gotta realize that. He’s an old man,” Koraun said.

Mayweather came out of a 23-month retirement to defeat McGregor on Saturday in what could be the highest-grossing boxing match in history. The fight itself was more spectacle than great boxing match—McGregor was making his professional boxing debut—but it generated extreme hype because of the star power involved.

“This was my last fight tonight,” Mayweather said afterward. “For sure. Tonight was my last fight. Tonight I chose the right dance partner to dance with. Conor, you are a hell of a champion.”

Mayweather retires with a 50-0 record, breaking a tie with Rocky Marciano. While it’s a trope that boxers are never fully retired—Mayweather himself has “walked away” on multiple occasions—there is no real incentive for him to get back in the ring.

His fight with McGregor will net him another nine-figure payday, and it made him the third professional athlete to ever pass $1 billion in career earnings (Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan).

There is no obvious opponent who would guarantee Mayweather another $100 million, and the odds are overwhelmingly against a return to fight the winner of the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin bout Sept. 16.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Tom Brady Downplays Floyd Mayweather Friendship, Says McGregor Fight Was Great

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady denied Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s claim the pair are “very, very close friends” in his weekly radio appearance on WEEI’s Kirk & Callahan.
“No, I met him a couple of times,” Brady said. “I think …

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady denied Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s claim the pair are “very, very close friends” in his weekly radio appearance on WEEI’s Kirk & Callahan.

“No, I met him a couple of times,” Brady said. “I think he’s a great fighter. That was a great fight the other night.”

Mayweather had told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio last week that he and Brady were friends.

“That’s a close friend of mine. Tom Brady is a very, very close friend,” Mayweather said. “An unbelievable guy with unbelievable talent…he’s a great guy. Actually, Tom Brady texted me yesterday.

“We have a cool friendship. He texted me and asked me ‘How’s everything going?’ And I texted him back: ‘Everything is cool, how you doing? How’s the family?’ And he said, ‘Everything is going A-OK.'”

Brady reiterated the two had only met a “couple times” when pressed further. He did, however, compliment Mayweather as a “great fighter” and said he watched the boxer’s 10th-round TKO of Conor McGregor on Sunday—a day after attending a friend’s wedding.

This is the second time this year Brady’s alleged friendship with a controversial figure has made headlines. President Donald Trump has counted Brady as a friend for years, and the Patriots star even had a Making America Great Again hat in his locker in 2015.

Trump has become one of the most controversial presidents in United States history in his brief seven months in office, due in large part to his handling of societal issues. Brady has maintained he does not agree with all of Trump’s political viewpoints.

Mayweather has been convicted of domestic violence on multiple occasions and spent two months in jail as part of a plea deal in 2012. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Enzo Amore Shows $10K Ticket to Mayweather Fight, Calls McGregor a ‘Schmuck’

Before Floyd Mayweather knocked Conor McGregor out in the 10th round of their anticipated prizefight Saturday, WWE’s Enzo Amore made sure to antagonize the UFC star a little more.
Amore took to Instagram before the bout to show off his $10,000 ticket t…

Before Floyd Mayweather knocked Conor McGregor out in the 10th round of their anticipated prizefight Saturday, WWE’s Enzo Amore made sure to antagonize the UFC star a little more.

Amore took to Instagram before the bout to show off his $10,000 ticket to the event and call McGregor a “schmuck”:

 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

McGregor vs. Mayweather: Results and Punch Stats from Superfight

For the first three rounds, Conor McGregor looked like he belonged. By the end, the numbers paint the picture of a typical Floyd Mayweather fight—just with a different result.
Mayweather recorded a 10th-round TKO of Conor McGregor in their prizef…

For the first three rounds, Conor McGregor looked like he belonged. By the end, the numbers paint the picture of a typical Floyd Mayweather fight—just with a different result.

Mayweather recorded a 10th-round TKO of Conor McGregor in their prizefight Saturday, just his third knockout in the last decade. Referee Robert Byrd announced a stoppage with McGregor staggering on his feet midway through the round, though the UFC legend-in-the-making disagreed with the decision.

“I thought it was close though and I thought it was a bit of an early stoppage,” McGregor said after the bout (h/t Mike Bohn of Rolling Stone). “I was just a little fatigued. He was just a lot more composed with his shots. … When you’re in here in the squared circle, everything is different. Let the man put me down, that’s fatigue, that’s not damage.”

McGregor, even if the fight were to continue, had no chance of winning. Mayweather was up 87-83, 89-82, 89-81 on the three scorecards when he scored the knockout. Unless McGregor hit Mayweather with a knockout of his own—unlikely given the relative weakness with which his late-round punches were landing—he was going to lose regardless.

Mayweather said the early-round woes were all part of his gameplan. No doubt one of the smartest boxing minds ever to step in a ring, Mayweather said his strategy was to wear McGregor down early and then take advantage of his over-aggressive tendencies.

“Our game plan was to take our time, go to him, let him shoot his shots early and then take him out down the stretch,” Mayweather said, via Bohn. “We know in MMA he fights for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, he started to slow down. I guaranteed to everybody that this wouldn’t go the distance.”

If this is indeed Mayweather’s last fight—and he confirmed once more after the bout that it is—that’s probably for the best. Fighting an inexperienced star like McGregor was his best bet at looking peak-Mayweatherish, and he struggled to do so for part of the bout.

McGregor’s unorthodox style had Mayweather ducking and protecting, and his quickness seemingly only came back once his opponent started to slow down. Put Mayweather in the ring with Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin, it’s hard to see him winning after what we saw Saturday.

While the CompuBox stats look bad for McGregor, he still managed to land more punches than Manny Pacquiao against Mayweather in two fewer rounds. Here is a look at how things played out via the CompuBox scores:

     

CompuBox Stats

Total Punches Landed

Mayweather 170/320 (53 percent)

McGregor 111/430 (26 percent)

    

Jabs

Mayweather 19/58 (31 percent)

McGregor 27/98 (28 percent)

    

Power Punches

Mayweather 152/261 (58 percent)

McGregor 84/332 (25 percent)

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Mayweather vs. McGregor Results: Money’s Post-Fight Celebration and Comments

Floyd Mayweather Jr. looked like a broken shell of himself for the first three rounds. It turns out that was all part of the plan.
Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor via 10th-round TKO in their anticipated prizefight Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las V…

Floyd Mayweather Jr. looked like a broken shell of himself for the first three rounds. It turns out that was all part of the plan.

Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor via 10th-round TKO in their anticipated prizefight Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, taking over after a slow start to move to 50-0 for his career. It was his first win via knockout since his fourth-round KO of Victor Ortiz in 2011 and just his third in the last decade.

“He’s a lot better than I thought he was,” Mayweather told Showtime’s Jim Gray in the ring.

For at least the early portion of the fight, McGregor certainly was better than anyone expected. He came out aggressive, landing power punches and seemingly confusing Mayweather with his stance switches and unorthodox style. On more than one occasion, Mayweather tucked his head and turned his back to his opponent—something we’d rarely (if ever) seen before.

But Mayweather persisted. He picked up his tempo beginning in the third round and spent much of the latter few rounds landing power punch after power punch against a gassed McGregor.

“Our game plan was to take our time, go to him, let him shoot his shots early and then take him out down the stretch,” Mayweather said post-fight (via Mike Bohn of Rolling Stone). “We know in MMA he fights for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, he started to slow down. I guaranteed to everybody that this wouldn’t go the distance.”

McGregor, for his part, said he believed the ref was too quick with the stoppage. Mayweather appeared to have McGregor out on his feet and unable to defend himself when the ref called for the bell midway through round 10.

“I thought it was close though and I thought it was a bit of an early stoppage,” McGregor said, via Bohn. “I was just a little fatigued. He was just a lot more composed with his shots. … When you’re in here in the squared circle, everything is different. Let the man put me down, that’s fatigue, that’s not damage.”

Mayweather also confirmed—again—that he will not return to a boxing ring.

“This was my last fight tonight,” Mayweather said. “For sure. Tonight was my last fight. Tonight I chose the right dance partner to dance with. Conor you are a hell of a champion.”

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com