Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former six-weight boxing world champion Oscar De La Hoya have had their say on the possibility of Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting in the UFC, and the pair are both sceptical it will happen.
The former spoke on his podcast, Believe You Me, and cannot envision it happening, though he believes it would be a completely one-sided affair if it did.
According to the Mirror‘s Martin Domin, Bisping said:
“I honestly can’t see Floyd Mayweather fighting mixed martial arts and certainly [not] in the UFC. If he does fight in the UFC it’s going to be against Conor McGregor.
“Conor McGregor in an MMA fight will f–king destroy Floyd Mayweather like he’s never seen.
“It takes so long to learn—so long to put the pieces of the puzzle together, so long to learn the grappling the transitions from the striking to the grappling.
“Conor McGregor would literally have a field day with Floyd Mayweather.”
De La Hoya is in agreement that Money will not be setting foot in an Octagon. Per TMZ Sports, he said: “Floyd, you know him and his attention, he can’t let anybody else have attention, so he does this. He’ll never fight.”
Mayweather hinted he could cross over into MMA with a video he posted on social media:
Showtime executive Steven Espinoza confirmed to TMZ Sports he and Mayweather would be discussing the possibility:
McGregor and Mayweather fought in a crossover in August last year, with The Notorious making his professional boxing debut and Money coming out of retirement to compete.
Mayweather, 40, extended his record to 50 fights unbeaten as he knocked out the UFC lightweight champion, albeit it took him 10 rounds to do so against the Irishman.
If the American were to move into MMA, it would perhaps be an even more sensational switch.
Journalist Ariel Helwani discussed the prospect of a rematch between the pair with the MMA Beat panel, per MMAFighting.com:
Bisping’s assessment of how Mayweather would fare appears to be accurate.
Bridging the skill gap was a virtually impossible task for McGregor to do as he moved into boxing, and it would be even more difficult for Mayweather to do the same going the other way given the variety of skills required in MMA, from grappling to kicking to takedowns.
Money would have almost no hope of upsetting a man 11 years his junior on his home turf, but the sheer prospect of witnessing him in the Octagon could hold appeal to many, even if the pair would not be able to produce an engaging contest.
Despite the near certainty of his defeat, Mayweather would not be putting his boxing record on the line, though, so that may not matter that much to him if the payout would be big enough.
That is likely to be the key to whether the fight takes place, but in the meantime, Mayweather’s teasing of it will only increase the hype.
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