Retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. accused UFC fighter Conor McGregor of ducking a fight against him in the latest war of words in the protracted negotiation between the two fighters as they attempt to iron out the details on a potential superfight.
“Conor McGregor, stop blowing smoke up people’s ass, you little [expletive],” Mayweather said in an interview with FightHype.com (h/t Damon Martin of Fox Sports). “If you want to fight, let’s make it happen you punk. Conor McGregor you don’t even want to fight you little [expletive], you little punk. Let’s make it happen.”
Mayweather also claimed McGregor was hiding behind the negotiating process to cover up the fact that he doesn’t want to take the fight at all:
There’s always been a lot of talk about Conor McGregor. My thing is this, a lot of times with competitors and athletes and fighters we can ask for certain things that we really don’t want. There’s a lot of barking but there’s no biting. When you talk about biting, sign the contract. Don’t talk the [expletive]. If you really want to fight sign the [expletive] contract and we can make it happen.
So just letting the world know that he’s full of [expletive]. 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’ — well listen, I’m my own boss, let’s make the fight happen. You talking all that [expletive], you acting like you want to fight, I don’t think you really want to fight. Sign the contract and let’s make it happen.
You can see the full interview below (warning: NSFW language):
Underneath the bluster of Mayweather’s comments, of course, is a negotiating tactic. If Mayweather can make it look as though McGregor is avoiding the fight rather than simply negotiating for terms that best suit the UFC star, perhaps Mayweather can seize the upper hand in negotiations.
Given McGregor’s savvy handle on promotion—and the fact that any fight has to be approved by the UFC because McGregor is under contract with the organization—it seems unlikely the tactic will work, however.
Indeed, the financial split on the fight appears to be a sticking point in negotiations, which Mayweather hinted at in his comments:
Conor McGregor has been telling the world ‘I want to fight Floyd Mayweather.’ If you really want to fight, let’s make the fight happen. You’re the ‘B’ side, I’m 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 I went out there and fought and became the ‘A’ side and when I became the ‘A’ side, I demanded what I wanted.
He cannot demand anything because he’s not in the position to demand anything. If we offer you or your team offer you a certain amount of money, I don’t know what it is, take it and let’s make it happen.
It’s unlikely McGregor sees himself as the “B side” of this draw, of course.
Frankly, both fighters can claim equal “A-status” in a potential fight of this magnitude. Mayweather finished his career 49-0 and the highest earner in boxing history. He beat Manny Pacquiao in his last superfight between the two best boxers of a generation, though the fight came a few years after each fighter’s prime.
McGregor, meanwhile, is 21-3 in his professional fighting career and has held UFC’s featherweight and lightweight titles (he vacated the featherweight title in November after never defending it following his victory over Jose Aldo at UFC 194).
McGregor is not only arguably UFC’s best fighter, but he’s also easily its most charismatic. So expecting him to defer to Mayweather’s wishes in a superfight—or expecting the UFC to do so as well—is simply unrealistic.
And so the saga continues.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com