After last night’s revelation that Dana White had worked out Conor McGregor’s side of the deal and the follow-up news that McGregor had applied for a boxing license in Nevada, the mixed martial arts (MMA) universe is awash in the distinct possibility that the the infamous “Notorious” could actually be boxing Floyd Mayweather Jr. If
After last night’s revelation that Dana White had worked out Conor McGregor’s side of the deal and the follow-up news that McGregor had applied for a boxing license in Nevada, the mixed martial arts (MMA) universe is awash in the distinct possibility that the the infamous “Notorious” could actually be boxing Floyd Mayweather Jr.
If it actually does – and it’s far from being anything closely resembling a done deal – the majority of those familiar with combat sports still believe that Mayweather, a boxer whom many consider one of if not the best to ever compete, is going to wipe the floor with the UFC’s biggest star, who has no professional boxing experience.
One high-profile subscriber of the theory is UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who pulled no “Bones” about McGregor’s chances against the legendary pugilist in addition to any of the other rumored UFC vs. boxing bouts during today’s episode of UFC Tonight:
“He can actually go and fight Mayweather. He will lose. But the rest of these guys, they will get no money, and they will get slept.
“Look, James Toney fought in the UFC, and we had no problem showing the footage over and over again of James Toney getting beat by Randy Couture. These boxing promoters will constantly video of the heavyweight champion of the world getting slept by Anthony Joshua, or Jimi Manuwa, c’mon Jimi! Getting slept by David Haye.
These dudes will get slept, it’s going to be embarrassing, so no, it is not good for the UFC. Conor, hat’s off to you, make your money, but don’t get slept! Which might happen to ’em”
Cormier is currently set for his oft-scheduled (and oft-canceled) grudge match with former champion Jon Jones at July 29’s UFC 214, and as we’ve seen in the past, that fight is anything but a certainty to happen despite its high-profile nature. The current champion seems to be the heel in the eye of the fans, and perhaps that’s because he tells the facts how they are in a blunt manner, as he has with his recent back-and-forth with the embattled all-time legend.
And while he may be a public persona for the UFC as a co-host of UFC Tonight, Cormier told it like it is here with the cold truth that most if not all professional MMA fighters would stand little chance in the boxing ring against the sport’s top athletes, just like the top boxers would have no chance in the cage.
McGregor most likely isn’t concerned with that, however, as the possibility of an absolutely unparalleled payday is much more than enough to get past the probability that he may lose. That’s the current mindset of MMA’s biggest star, and he could be headed for a bout that does anything but make the UFC look good in any way.
But with big-money bouts few and far between in 2017, the promotion is looking for the biggest payday it can get. Is this one worth it?
Late last night (May 17, 2017), it was announced that Conor McGregor had struck a deal with the UFC in order to make his often discussed mega fight with the legendary Floyd Mayweather a reality. “It is an honour to sign this record breaking deal alongside my partners Zuffa LLC, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and
Late last night (May 17, 2017), it was announced that Conor McGregor had struck a deal with the UFC in order to make his often discussed mega fight with the legendary Floyd Mayweather a reality.
“It is an honour to sign this record breaking deal alongside my partners Zuffa LLC, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Paradigm Sports Management,” McGregor told TheMacLife.com.
“The first, and most important part of this historic contract has now officially been signed off on. Congratulations to all parties involved. We now await Al Haymon and his boxer’s signature in the coming days.”
UFC President Dana White also confirmed the news:
“The McGregor side is done,” White said on TNT following game one of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. “I’m starting to work on the Mayweather side now.”
“I’m not saying the fight will happen but I got one side done and it’s time to work on the other,” White added.
Today (May 18, 2017), it appears as if another crucial step has been taken in regards to making the fight, as McGregor has applied for a boxing license in the state of Nevada.
Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) executive director Bob Bennet confirmed the news to Boxing News Online:
“Conor McGregor has submitted an application to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a boxing license,” he said. “We are currently awaiting additional documents from him in support of his application.”
Late last year, McGregor was granted a boxing license in the state of California, which added more fuel to the fire regarding speculation that he may actually take on Mayweather in a boxing match. Mayweather, however, has spent the majority of his lengthy career competing in Las Vegas, making it a likely landing spot for a potential showdown between him and McGregor.
With McGregor and the UFC taking these recent steps, the ball most certainly seems to be in the court of the man dubbed “Money”. The 41-year-old undefeated Mayweather hasn’t competed since Sept. 2015 when he scored a unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto. He announced his retirement after the bout, but revealed earlier this year that he was coming out of retirement solely for a bout with the brash and outspoken Irish knockout artist.
Many have refused to give McGregor a chance against Mayweather and for good reason, as the “Notorious” one has never competed in a professional boxing match. To no surprise, however, McGregor has appeared to be nothing but confident heading into what would likely be the most lucrative bout in the history of combat sports.
The Irishman has been out of action since knocking out Eddie Alvarez last November at UFC 205 in New York City to become the promotion’s lightweight champion. Prior to that, he had set promotional pay-per-view records in back-to-back grudge matches with Nate Diaz at UFC 196 in March 2016 and at UFC 202 in August 2016. He and his longtime girlfriend, Dee Devlin, also recently gave birth to their first child, Conor Jr.
On Monday night, UFC president Dana White and his promotion’s lightweight champion Conor McGregor announced that they’d struck a deal on the sharing of their side of a fight purse generated by a boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather. Normally, …
On Monday night, UFC president Dana White and his promotion’s lightweight champion Conor McGregor announced that they’d struck a deal on the sharing of their side of a fight purse generated by a boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather. Normally, that would be the easy part of any negotiation—after all, McGregor is under contract with the UFC—but the stakes involved and the co-promotion ensured it was not easy.
The match promises to be one of the richest in combat sports history, and confident in that knowledge and his role in such a mega-event, McGregor played hardball with the UFC, sidelining himself for several months with the understanding that the UFC needed his services as a cash-generator.
It worked, and in doing so, he has changed the game.
With Monday’s announcement, he has accomplished the seemingly impossible by getting UFC brass to co-promote a bout with another entity, something that Randy Couture and others tried several times over the years with no success.
Whether McGregor gets the fight now—still no sure thing with a hard negotiation with The Money Team looming—he’s already fundamentally altered the fighter/promoter dynamic to bend in his direction. He’s also become the most powerful fighter MMA has seen.
Should both sides reach terms, a fight with Mayweather will only increase McGregor’s stardom, leverage and strength.
Joining me to discuss this ongoing saga and developing story is Bleacher Report Lead MMA Writer Chad Dundas.
Mike Chiapppetta: Chad, it’s starting to actually seem like we might be seeing this. This crazy long shot of a co-promotion. This bizarre spectacle of capitalism. This circus of the century.
I will admit to being one who had extreme doubtsabout the ability of all parties involved to pull this off. I thought egos and purse splits would get in the way. And I have to also admit that I thought getting Dana White & Co. to sign off on it would be the harder negotiation of the two.
With that out of the way, there is a real path to this fight happening.
Let’s be honest. There is no other way Mayweather can make this kind of money again. He’s 40 years old and he’s been out of the game for nearly two years. His last fight, against Andre Berto, sold about a half-million pay-per-views, according to ESPN.com.
But we’re less interested in Mayweather than we are in McGregor, only because of what this will mean going forward, both for him and for the UFC.
In its efforts at a cash-grab, the UFC might have ceded power that it can never recover. The promotion has always emphasized the brand first, so what happens when McGregor goes outside the brand, outside the sport and draws a bigger audience than anything the UFC has ever produced?
What happens when he proves that at least right now, he is bigger than the brand? Because that’s what he’s on the way to doing.
Will he be content to go back to the UFC and live within their current arrangement? Remember, this is a man who has openly and repeatedly spoken of co-promoting with the UFC, and pretty soon, he may be doing just that. Pretty soon, he may come to the realization that he doesn’t need them at all, that he—like Mayweather—can do his own thing and collect the lion’s share of the cash haul he creates.
I don’t even think it matters whether he wins or loses. The vast majority of the combat sports world takes it as a given that he will lose, yet we want to see it anyway. Why? Because of the star power and spectacle. And that’s not something that will dim now, not this early in his career.
Which makes me wonder: Is the UFC making a mistake by bucking its own system here? For years, it has resisted this very thing for a reason. Chad, do you think this will have reverberations past McGregor and through the roster, or is this just one hell of a headache it’ll have on its hands for as long as McGregor remains signed with the UFC?
Chad Dundas: It’s a marvel, Mike, to consider what McGregor has pulled off here. He’s singlehandedly convinced the UFC to throw away more than 15 years of complete autonomy—once arguably its cardinal value—to secure this fight. Even if Mayweather and his Money Team never agree to terms, McGregor has already triumphed in yet another big battle against his own fight company bosses.
And this one is a doozy.
If he can get the UFC to agree to let him compete outside the Octagon, in a boxing ring, in a fight he will surely lose, he can get it to agree to anything.
It’s remarkable when you consider that for the last decade and a half, White and former UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta ruled the MMA world with such utter impunity. Their near-monopoly over the industry and iron-fisted management style succeeded in keeping nearly the entire roster of fighters in check for much of this sport’s modern history.
Then McGregor came along and smashed that mold beyond all recognition.
That’s a credit to him and him alone. I’m not sure any other MMA fighter will ever have the savvy, skills and hutzpah to take the UFC to the negotiating woodshed so regularly. So, in that way, I think McGegor is an entirely isolated example.
I do think, however, that UFC fighters will try to emulate him, to varying degrees of success. In the last few years, we’ve already started to see more and more fighterstake their grievances with the company public. We’re also nearly continuously hearing rumblings about unionization, though so far those efforts have been miserable failures.
McGregor merely adds fuel to that fire. While I’m not sure his continued victories over the UFC mean a full-scale rebellion is coming, I do think the days of the fight company being able to move unchecked over an entirely servile population of athletes are coming to and end.
And I think McGregor deserves some credit for playing a role in that shift.
Drifting so close to actually getting the Mayweather fight signed is another reminder that since he arrived in the UFC in 2013, McGregor has been making good on impossible promises. Each time the so-called experts laugh at his plans or shrug him off, he goes out and makes us all look like fools.
So, Mike, at the risk of looking foolish once more, if McGregor lands this fight, how on earth could he top it? Could he return to the UFC as a mere fighter again? Or might we see the rise of McGregor Promotions, another of McGregor’s wild ideas that at first drew laughs but might ultimately turn out to be more legitimate than anyone would’ve thought?
Chiappetta: How can he top it? This is the multi-million dollar question, isn’t it? Because all of what we’ve seen over the four years since McGregor showed up in the Octagon hasn’t been some accident or fate. He’s legitimately called every shot he’s taken, then gone out and accomplished it.
He said he’d win the lightweight belt, that he’d become a two-weight world champion, that he’d become MMA’s highest-paid draw. All of those things have come true, but only by way of his hard work, self-promotion skills and political maneuverings.
And as you mentioned, he’s also talked about launching McGregor Promotions. At this point, why would we doubt him? Anyone who doesn’t believe he’s going to work his damnedest to follow through on his declaration hasn’t been paying attention.
McGregor Promotions is coming. He’s already told us his end game, and that’s why I think UFC is playing with fire by agreeing to his demands. Don’t get be wrong, I’m glad they did. This is prizefighting, and I think athletes should be able to chase the fights that pay them the most money, even if those fights aren’t the most meaningful in a sporting sense.
We should all tip our caps to UFC for giving ground. I wouldn’t say this makes them any more fighter-friendly, but it’s a single big step in that direction, albeit in an exceptional circumstance.
Yet, you have to wonder if this is McGregor continuing the, “You give an inch, I’ll take a mile” approach to control his career and future. And if it is, good for him.
For the longest time, fighters who gave pieces of their lives in the Octagon only to ask for a favor in return, have been shot down. Randy Couture desperately wanted to fight Fedor Emelianenko. Anderson Silva wanted to box Roy Jones. For crying out loud, Georges St-Pierre was lambasted by White just because he decided he needed time away from the sport. And these are guys who have actually made the UFC real money.
McGregor? He ain’t going out like that. He’s going to call his shots and follow through, and White is going to have to deal with him, not the other way around. I love it. Sure, this whole thing will probably end up in some lawsuit-filled debacle, but this is MMA, and chaos is part of the product.
So let’s take this all the way to the conclusion, Chad. Let’s say McGregor and Mayweather reach a deal. They fight. McGregor makes an eight-figure payday. He leaves the ring with a whole new perspective on life. What happens next? Where is his first post-Mayweather fight? The UFC? His own cage? The courtroom?
Chad: It depends on a litany of factors, Mike.
Firstly, McGregor’s goal in any fight against Mayweather should be to just not get embarrassed so badly that it ends up dampening his star power. The last thing he wants is to wind up like Ronda Rousey, the sudden butt of a million internet memes.
But if McGregor plays this correctly—and so far he’s played almost everything correctly—I think he’ll be treated as a conquering hero for taking the Mayweather bout. He’ll ace the promotional lead-up to the fight and, let’s be honest, the boxing and mainstream media will line up to guzzle down the Conor McGregor Show like sweet, sweet nectar.
The media will laud him for having the guts to cross the aisle and take on one of the greatest boxers of the modern era and fight fans will understand that he’s not competing at his natural sport. So long as he avoids getting completely smashed and then handles the loss with the same dignity he showed after Nate Diaz beat him at UFC 196, he’ll waltz in and out of this matchup with no damage to his legacy.
And then things will get interesting.
You and I have gone back and forth on this before, Mike.
One thing we’ve never seen McGregor do is take a step backward. To him, it’s always on to bigger and better things once a goal is realized. In that way, it’s tough to imagine him fighting Mayweather and then going back to the UFC to accept a low-profile matchup against someone like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson or even Diaz again, for less exposure and a lot less money.
On the other hand, McGregor is only 28 years old—still just a pup, even by the harsh standards of combat sports. As you once put it to me, Mike, a guy who likes his lavish lifestyle as much as McGregor obviously does ain’t gonna quit the money-making business before he even turns 30.
He set a blistering pace during his most recent UFC run, fought four fights in 11 months, won two titles and smashed MMA pay-per-view records at every turn. On May 6, he and longtime partner Dee Devlin welcomed their first child—a boy named Conor Jr.
So, I suppose I’m going to end this by saying I’ve given up trying to anticipate what Conor McGregor will do. I’ve learned the hard way not to take him at his word, but the only thing I can say with reasonable certainty will be that his next project stands to be bigger, bolder and even more audacious than this one.
Well, it looks as if we are one step closer towards seeing Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor meet inside the squared circle. After months and months of back-and-forth negotiations and rampant speculation, UFC President announced late last night (May 17, 2017) that he had indeed reached a deal with his lightweight champion. White then said
Well, it looks as if we are one step closer towards seeing Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor meet inside the squared circle.
After months and months of back-and-forth negotiations and rampant speculation, UFC President announced late last night (May 17, 2017) that he had indeed reached a deal with his lightweight champion. White then said that he would begin working on a deal with Team Mayweather:
“The McGregor side is done,” White said on TNT following game one of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. “I’m starting to work on the Mayweather side now.”
“I’m not saying the fight will happen but I got one side done and it’s time to work on the other,” White added.
McGregor also confirmed the news, revealing in an exclusive interview with TheMacLife.com that he had signed a contract in order to make his bout with “Money” a reality:
“It is an honour to sign this record breaking deal alongside my partners Zuffa LLC, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Paradigm Sports Management,” McGregor said.
“The first, and most important part of this historic contract has now officially been signed off on. Congratulations to all parties involved. We now await Al Haymon and his boxer’s signature in the coming days.”
Over the last year or so, White and McGregor have often seemed to be on different pages regarding the potential mega fight, but for the first time, the two have come to an agreement, which is a major step towards making this fight official.
Mayweather hasn’t fought since scoring a unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto in Sept. 2015. McGregor, on the other hand, has been out of action since knocking out Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 last November in New York City.
UFC President Dana White said Wednesday night that he has completed negotiations with Conor McGregor in hopes of setting up a showdown against Floyd Mayweather Jr. later this year.
Appearing on TNT’s Inside the NBA following Game 1 of t…
UFC President Dana White said Wednesday night that he has completed negotiations with Conor McGregor in hopes of setting up a showdown against Floyd Mayweather Jr. later this year.
Appearing on TNT’s Inside the NBA following Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden, White said the McGregor side is “done” and that he’s “starting to work on the Mayweather side now.”
You can view White’s complete remarks below:
Last week, White expressed confidence he would be able to complete McGregor’s side of the deal before trying to hash out an agreement with Money.
However, the UFC boss cautioned negotiating with Mayweather’s team may not be easy.
“I still need to go negotiate with [Mayweather’s team],” he said last week on The Jim Rome Show, according to ESPN.com news services. “There’s no guarantee that we’re going to come to a deal.”
In April, White appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherdand estimated that McGregor would earn somewhere around $75 million if the fight was made, while Mayweather would likely make a shade over nine figures.
After a controversial ending to the exciting back-and-forth bout between Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez at last weekend’s (Sat., May 13, 2017) UFC 211 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, longtime MMA referee Herb Dean has fallen under an intense shroud of criticism from some of his MMA peers and many fans. Overall,
After a controversial ending to the exciting back-and-forth bout between Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez at last weekend’s (Sat., May 13, 2017) UFC 211 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, longtime MMA referee Herb Dean has fallen under an intense shroud of criticism from some of his MMA peers and many fans.
Overall, Dean has been a consistent veteran referee of the sport, even once earning the high praise of Dana White as the ‘best in the sport.’ But even the best make mistakes from time to time, and his doubters would definitely have you believe that Dean is slowly losing his edge as the best due to a series of inconsistent decisions in recent years.
That may or may not be true, but there’s no doubt that Dean has made some head-scratching errors in the cage lately nonetheless. Let’s take a look at five of the worst.
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Dustin Poirier vs. Eddie Alvarez – UFC 211
We’ll get the freshest example of a Dean screw-up out of the way first. After the early part of this anticipated prelim card headliner saw “The Diamond” rock Alvarez with a bevy of big shots, the former champion rallied back impressively to actually land some big strikes of his own when it looked like he was finished.
He got Poirier to the ground, and with the current state of knees to a grounded opponent one of the biggest messes in MMA, unleashed three knees that two of which may have been legal under one set of rules of another, while the third was most definitely illegal.
It also injured Poirier to the point of where he said he could not continue, making it seem as if he won by disqualification. But Dean declared it a no contest, deeming Alvarez unintentional in his strike and saying he was simply caught up in the moment. But that could be said about any illegal strike in any fight, and the rules are in place for a reason. Many have agreed Dean made a huge error in calling this a NC, and Poirier is already appealing the decision.
Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber – UFC 169
This bantamweight title bout in February 2014 was a showcase fight for Barao, who at the time was considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. In a bit of hyperbole, Joe Rogan even called him the best.
Anyway, the Nova Uniao champion was having his way with Faber, who filled in for an injured Dominick Cruz, in the early-going of the fight, landing big shots and dropping the tough “The California Kid.” Faber may have been absorbing a lot of damage, yet he gave a clear thumbs-up to Dean while Barao was unloading a barrage of pitter-patter strikes on the ground that were nowhere near as damaging as his previous ones standing.
Now a thumbs-up from a fighter certainly isn’t enough to warrant a bout being continued, but it does show that Faber was at least coherent. Barao was exactly landing knockout blows, either. He also pled with Dean to stop the bout, signaling he needed some assistance with the job rather than leaving no doubt. Dean did that for him, and has since taken a ton of flack for what’s perceived as an early stoppage.
Chas Skelly vs. Maximo Blanco – UFC Fight Night 94
This featherweight match-up saw an absolutely brutal submission finish, but it didn’t have tor be that way if Dean had been a bit more attentive at his job. Skilled wrestler Skelly had used an excellent transition on the mat to lock on a tight Anaconda choke that had Blanco in very bad shape in the bout. Skelly told Dean his opponent was out as he lay there with his arms splayed out on the canvas not moving, but Dean still had to make sure he was when there was no way Skelly was trying to pull a fast one on him.
After he finally called it, Blanco was out for some time, and Dean drew a ton of heat for not calling the submission sooner.
Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Bubba Jenkins – Bellator 132
Like Skelly vs. Blanco, this bout is an example of Dean letting a fighter hold onto a choke for far too long. In this match, Karakhanyan locked up a tight standing guillotine choke on touted wrestler Jenkins that ended the bout rather quickly.
Like Skelly, Karakhanyan yelled at Dean that the fight was done, repeatedly yelling that he was out. But Dean didn’t believe him and let it continue on for some reason, letting Karakhanyan crank on the submission until Jenkins was out himself.
Not Dean’s finest moment, and another example of when he was unwilling to call a fight off by technical submission that resulted in a fighter’s health being put in jeopardy.
Photo Credit: Sean Porkorny for USA TODAY Sports
Uriah Hall vs. Derek Brunson – UFC Fight Night 94
This result, which also took place at UFC Fight Night 94, may be a bit more questionable, as Hall was clearly rocked by a big left hook from a charging Brunson.
However, he appeared to be intelligently defending himself by grabbing for a single leg, and immediately got back up to protest when the fight was called off.
Dean defended himself by saying Hall was wobbled and in trouble, but there’s certainly a case to be made for allowing the fight to continue for at least a few more seconds, something Dean obviously had no problem doing when the previous two mistakes on this list involved chokes being held onto far after a fighter had tapped.
It’s a fine line, true, but if Dean is going to allow fighters to be put in fight-ending submissions for a long while after they’ve tapped out, then you’d think he would want to give fighters who were rocked but still conscious a chance to fight back too. That’s what makes being a ref in MMA so tough, and while Dean has certainly proved his worth over many years, his calls have become inconsistent as of late.
