UFC President Dana White thinks a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight is impractical.
White said on ESPN Radio’s Russillo & Kanell that the reason he doesn’t see the 49-0 Mayweather taking on the current UFC Featherweight champion in a sanctioned bout is because of how long it took the unbeaten boxer to fight Manny Pacquiao.
“Let me put it to you this way,” White said, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com. “Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are in the same sport. It took how long for those two to fight? Now imagine how hard it would be to get (Mayweather and McGregor) to fight. They’re not in the same sport.”
Mayweather said on May 7 that any rumors about a potential fight with the Irishman have come from he and his camp. McGregor upped the ante later that day by tweeting an altered image of he and Mayweather facing off.
The Sun reported Mayweather and McGregor were discussing a potential megafight in Las Vegas later this summer, but White said the rumors were not true because UFC is McGregor’s fighter, and Mayweather’s camp would have to go through him.
“Is this thing going to be MMA or boxing rules?” White said, per Okamoto. “Who’s getting the lion’s share of the money? This and that. It’s impossible. But like I’ve said, ‘Floyd, you want to fight Conor, call me.'”
White holds all the leverage as far as a Mayweather-McGregor fight goes, seeing how Irishman is still under contract with UFC, and the MMA company would probably get the better share of the money because it could be liable for anything that happens to McGregor.
However, White sounds open to negotiations should such a fight ever happen. As of now, though, it’s still a pipe dream.
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