Each day it seems as if the tides change regarding a potential boxing super fight between former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather and reigning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Last week, Mayweather stirred the pot by saying he was ‘officially out of retirement’ for a bout with McGregor. This statement received more attention when news broke
Each day it seems as if the tides change regarding a potential boxing super fight between former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather and reigning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
Despite these reports, UFC President Dana White has consistently said that the fight is far from being signed and official. However, White recently told TMZ (Via FOX Sports) that he ‘would never keep’ McGregor from making the amount of money that he would surely bring in with a bout against Mayweather:
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense for my business, but I would never keep Conor from making that kind of money,” White said in regards to the fight between McGregor and Mayweather.
“He obviously has a lot of opportunities right now. Tony Ferguson is out there, the Floyd Mayweather thing is out there, we’ll see how this thing plays out.”
MMAFighting.com’s Luke Thomas also tweeted regarding the scenario last night (March 15, 2017) saying that White ‘ultimately believes’ the fight will happen:
According to a release from Conan O’Brien’s show, Dana White reportedly says he ultimately believes Mayweather-McGregor will happen.
These days weight cutting issues are extremely prevalent in MMA. Everyone has given their opinion on how they would mitigate the weight cutting problem but it would seem that boxing has beat MMA to it.
These days weight cutting issues are extremely prevalent in MMA. Everyone has given their opinion on how they would mitigate the weight cutting problem but it would seem that boxing has beat MMA to it.
A post shared by World Boxing Council (@wbcboxing) onMar 13, 2017 at 12:27pm PDT
It almost seems comically obvious when you look at those stats that this is something that the UFC and other major MMA promotion could use. The problem is that these stats are only of two combatants. To track the many fighters on individual rosters would be far more complicated, but it would go a long way in ensuring fighter health.
For my money, I’ve always thought that doing a second weigh in the day of the fight to ensure that fighters don’t rehydrate past a certain level would force fighters to fight in a weight class that would make more sense for a healthy rehydration. If you can’t rehydrate to a healthy weight then it would be too dangerous for them to compete in the contest. That means rather than doing a drastic weight cut, fighters will have to be smarter about the choice of weight division. But of course that’s just a pipe dream for now. As it stands we’ll have to just wait and see what happens as far as a solution goes.
How do you think the weight cutting issue can be solved? Can it be solved?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
Retired boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor having been going back-and-forth in the media regarding a potential super fight for over a year now, but the talk between the two sides has seemed to increase over the last few months. In fact, “Money” recently added more fuel to the fire by
Retired boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor having been going back-and-forth in the media regarding a potential super fight for over a year now, but the talk between the two sides has seemed to increase over the last few months.
In fact, “Money” recently added more fuel to the fire by saying that he is ‘officially out of retirement for Conor McGregor’, while urging the Irishman to fight him in June:
“When I faced Arturo Gatti, I went to his turf,” Mayweather said (via FightHype). “He was the A side, I was the B side. I beat him, I didn’t cry, I didn’t complain. When I faced Oscar De La Hoya, he was the A side, I was the B side. I didn’t cry, I didn’t complain, I beat him and I became the A side. For Conor McGregor, I’m coming out of retirement, just to fight Conor McGregor.
“I don’t want to hear no more excuses about the money, about the UFC. Sign the paper with the UFC so you can fight me in June. Simple and plain. Let’s fight in June. You’re the B side, I’m the A side. We’re not here to cry about money. I’m tired of all this crying about money and talking about you want to fight. You blowing smoke up everybody’s ass. If you want to fight, sign the paperwork, let’s do it.
“Today, I’m officially out of retirement for Conor McGregor. We don’t need to waste no time. We need to make this s**t happen quickly. Let’s get it on in June.”
Mayweather hasn’t competed since scoring a decision victory over Andre Berto in September 2015, while McGregor has been out of action since his history-making knockout over Eddie Alvarez last November at UFC 205 in New York City.
While it’s unclear if a boxing match between Mayweather and McGregor will ever truly come to fruition, it does appear as if “Money” is all in regarding the fight.
Mayweather seems to be getting fed up with talks of a potential boxing match with Conor McGregor. During a recent appearance ‘Money’ called out ‘The Notorious One’ by telling him to ‘sign the paper’ so they can settle their differences inside the squared circle once and for all. Mayweather then told FightHype yesterday (Thurs. March
Mayweather seems to be getting fed up with talks of a potential boxing match with Conor McGregor.
During a recent appearance ‘Money’ called out ‘The Notorious One’ by telling him to ‘sign the paper’ so they can settle their differences inside the squared circle once and for all. Mayweather then told FightHype yesterday (Thurs. March 9, 2017) that he believes the Irish lightweight champ doesn’t really want to fight; and if he did he’d sign the contract (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“I think that, a lot of times with competitors and athletes and fighters, we can ask for certain things that we really don’t want. I want to fight, I want to fight. There’s a lot of barking but there’s no biting. When you talk about biting, sign the contract. Don’t talk the s**t. If you really want to fight, sign the contract and we can make it happen.
“So just letting the world know that he’s full of s**t and he don’t really want to fight. ‘Oh, I want to fight, I want to fight, I want to fight. Mayweather’s scared of me.’ Listen, I’m my own boss, so let’s make the fight happen. You talking all that s**t, you acting like you want to fight, I don’t think you really want to fight. Sign the contract, let’s make it happen.”
Mayweather then doubled down on his previous statements that he is the ‘A side’ when it comes to negotiations between he and McGregor. The undefeated and retired boxing legend stated that ‘Notorious’ should take whatever money is offered to him to make this fight happen, just like he did when he started off on the ‘B side’:
“You belong to the UFC and you don’t own anything. Don’t bid yourself out. Just make the fight happen. Just like when I went out and I competed, at one particular time, I had to be the B side. I didn’t cry, I didn’t complain. When they brought the money to the table, I took it, kicked a**, and became the A side. Now I’m the A side, come kick my a** and you become the A side. . .
“At one particular time, I was the B side. When they made me an offer, I didn’t cry, I didn’t complain, I took the offer and went out there and fought and became the A side. When I became the A side, I demanded what I wanted. He cannot demand anything because he’s not in a position to demand anything. If we offer you, or your team offers you, a certain amount of money – I don’t know what it is – take it.”
Regardless of whether or not the fight ever comes to fruition Mayweather knows he will continue to live a lavish lifestyle, and concluded by calling the 155-pound UFC champ a ‘little b**ch’:
“With or without Conor McGregor, Floyd Mayweather is still going to get seven figures every month for the rest of his life and still live a lavish life,” said Mayweather.
“Conor McGregor, stop blowing smoke up peoples’ a****, you little b**ch. If you want to fight, let’s make it happen you punk.”
If we’re to believe boxing great Floyd Mayweather, it’s on Conor McGregor to make his long-rumored boxing fight with “Money” happen. Speaking during a recent media tour in the U.K., Mayweather told ESPN that if “The Notorious” really wants the bout, he simply has to sign the contract: “If Conor McGregor really wants this fight
If we’re to believe boxing great Floyd Mayweather, it’s on Conor McGregor to make his long-rumored boxing fight with “Money” happen.
Speaking during a recent media tour in the U.K., Mayweather told ESPN that if “The Notorious” really wants the bout, he simply has to sign the contract:
“If Conor McGregor really wants this fight to happen, stop blowing smoke up everybody’s ass.
“Sign the paper. Sign the paper. You said you were a boss, so just sign the paper and let’s make it happen.”
Those words sound like the most matter-of-fact statement Mayweather has directed at the UFC superstar since their super fight came out of left field last spring. However, the reality of the situation is that it’s not that easy, as Mayweather publicly made an offer including a payday of $15 million for McGregor – a number he expectedly balked at.
While the Irish trash talker has applied for his boxing license in California – he hasn’t gotten one in Nevada, where the fight would take place, due to his ongoing sanctions with with the NSAC following his bottle-throwing press conference at UFC 202.
The UFC arguably needs McGregor more than they ever have during a lackluster beginning to 2017, yet there’s nothing close to “The Notorious” officially returning to the octagon anytime soon, and much of that has to do with his efforts to book the fight with “Money.”
The two sides are assuredly bickering over just that, so the reality of signing the bout is not quite as easy as Mayweather suggests, because he appears to want the Irishman to sign his offer, which most likely isn’t up to the “Notorious” growing standards.
Let’s hope we’re not running into Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 2.
Nate Diaz hasn’t competed since suffering a majority decision loss to Conor McGregor in their rematch at UFC 202 last August, and it was thought that a trilogy bout with McGregor would be the only fight to get Diaz back in the Octagon, but that may not be the case after all. Recently speaking on
Nate Diaz hasn’t competed since suffering a majority decision loss to Conor McGregor in their rematch at UFC 202 last August, and it was thought that a trilogy bout with McGregor would be the only fight to get Diaz back in the Octagon, but that may not be the case after all.
Recently speaking on the fight, Diaz said that he’s now in search of ‘big deal’ fights rather than ‘money fights’:
“They said I was waiting for Conor McGregor, but I wasn’t waiting for Conor McGregor,” Diaz told Garnek Sports. “I already beat him twice, so I was just training and saying if I was gonna fight again anytime soon, it was going to be a big deal fight. Not a money fight, because I get paid, regardless.”
Like McGregor, Diaz recently applied for a boxing license. The “Notorious” one has consistently campaigned for a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, and if McGregor is going to box, Diaz wants to ‘get in on that’ too:
“I tried to get my boxing license years ago,” Diaz said. “Some boxing promoters were trying to buy my contract from the UFC, (but) the UFC was not letting me go. But now they’re talking about the McGregor-Mayweather stuff. I don’t now how real or fake it is, but who knows. Money talks.”
“I already got my California license, and I’m getting my Nevada license right now for boxing. If they’re gonna let McGregor box, I’m gonna be boxing, too. I’mma get in on that.”
Who would you like to see the younger Diaz brother fight next?