Conor McGregor can chalk one boxer off his wishlist, as UFC President White confirms that he has no interest in the fight. The McGregor v [Floyd] Mayweather soap opera introduced a new character to the cast last week, when multi-divisional champion and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao stated that he would be willing to fight “The […]
Conor McGregor can chalk one boxer off his wishlist, as UFC President White confirms that he has no interest in the fight. The McGregor v [Floyd] Mayweather soap opera introduced a new character to the cast last week, when multi-divisional champion and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao stated that he would be willing to fight “The […]
Conor McGregor owns a statistic which makes Khabib Nurmagomedov very sceptical regarding his chances of challenging the champion to his lightweight title.
Nurmagomedov has a chance to make a quarter of a century in MMA wins (25-0) in addition to taking the lightweight interim title in March’s co-main event of UFC 209. With this title in hand, the Sambo master cannot be ignored by the UFC superstar, right? Things may not be so easy, according to The Dagestani. McGregor has no intention of defending the gold strap, and one can only look to his past to see that he never has, says Nurmagomedov:
“He never defends his belts. He never [defended] his Cage Warriors belts, never defended his featherweight belt, and now UFC lightweight, I don’t think is different. But he has to defend”.
“We’ll see. I don’t think about this too much. I think about Tony and March 4. This is the biggest fight in my life.”
The Irish UFC champion is on a much publicized hiatus, as he looks forward to the birth of mini-McGregor later this year. When the lightweight champion does eventually return, he has serious business to contend with, in a division stacked with a number of suitors for his belt. That is, of course, if rumors regarding a superfight with Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao (however unlikely) do not materialize.
Will we see McGregor chase the welterweight title, or is it time for the UFC global phenom to defend a title?
Conor McGregor owns a statistic which makes Khabib Nurmagomedov very sceptical regarding his chances of challenging the champion to his lightweight title.
Nurmagomedov has a chance to make a quarter of a century in MMA wins (25-0) in addition to taking the lightweight interim title in March’s co-main event of UFC 209. With this title in hand, the Sambo master cannot be ignored by the UFC superstar, right? Things may not be so easy, according to The Dagestani. McGregor has no intention of defending the gold strap, and one can only look to his past to see that he never has, says Nurmagomedov:
“He never defends his belts. He never [defended] his Cage Warriors belts, never defended his featherweight belt, and now UFC lightweight, I don’t think is different. But he has to defend”.
“We’ll see. I don’t think about this too much. I think about Tony and March 4. This is the biggest fight in my life.”
The Irish UFC champion is on a much publicized hiatus, as he looks forward to the birth of mini-McGregor later this year. When the lightweight champion does eventually return, he has serious business to contend with, in a division stacked with a number of suitors for his belt. That is, of course, if rumors regarding a superfight with Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao (however unlikely) do not materialize.
Will we see McGregor chase the welterweight title, or is it time for the UFC global phenom to defend a title?
Manny Pacquiao appears to want in on the Conor McGregor boxing match superfight sweepstakes, as he’s willing to step into the squared circle with the UFC lightweight champ if negotiations with Floyd Mayweather fall through. For months now banter between McGregor and Mayweather has taken over combat sports news headlines, as ‘Money’ is asking for
Manny Pacquiao appears to want in on the Conor McGregor boxing match superfight sweepstakes, as he’s willing to step into the squared circle with the UFC lightweight champ if negotiations with Floyd Mayweather fall through.
For months now banter between McGregor and Mayweather has taken over combat sports news headlines, as ‘Money’ is asking for $100 million to show up and will only offer ‘Notorious’ $15 million. UFC President Dana White countered with a ‘real offer’ of $25 million each, as well as splitting pay-per-view (PPV) revenue down the middle, to which Mayweather merely laughed at.
Recently speaking to FOX Sports (via Bleacher Report) Pacquiao admits he hasn’t seen any footage of McGregor in the boxing ring, but is down to square off with the Irishman if the opportunity arises:
“In boxing? In boxing [I would fight McGregor] but not in [UFC], just boxing,” Pacquiao said. “I didn’t see [footage of Conor sparring],” Pacquiao said. “But if we are talking about Conor McGregor and boxing, it’s different. Boxing is different than MMA.”
Mayweather currently holds an undefeated boxing record of 49-0, calling it a career after his 2015 unanimous decision win over Andre Berto. Pacquiao has had quite a stellar career himself inside the squared circle, with a record of 59-6-2 after suffering his last defeat to Mayweather himself via unanimous decision in 2015.
McGregor has not expressed interest in facing Pacquiao in a boxing bout, but perhaps he’ll address the matter in his pay-per-view (PPV) only interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani next week (Saturday, January 28, 2017).
Fans finding the Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor debacle tiring now have another boxer vying to take on Conor McGregor in Filipino ring legend and Senator Manny Pacquiao.
“Pac Man” made the claim that he would take on “The Notorious” with Fox Sports, recently. Pacquiao has casually agreed to take on the UFC superstar. The man who lost a decision to Floyd Mayweather in 2015’s “Fight of the Century” confirmed that he would be willing to meet him in the ring, despite having never even seen footage of him as a boxer. The devastating soutpaw explicitly ruled out meeting McGregor in MMA rules:
“In boxing? In boxing [I would fight McGregor] but not in the UFC, just boxing,” Pacquiao said.
“I didn’t see footage of Conor sparring,” Pacquiao said. “But if we are talking about Conor McGregor and boxing, it’s different. Boxing is different than MMA.”
It is no secret that Pacquiao is hoping to capitalize on a second fight with Mayweather, having amassed a giant sum for their first fight in 2015. A fight between Mayweather and the greatest Asian boxer of all time looks more likely than a crossover bout featuring any of the two with “The Pride of Ireland”.
Fans finding the Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor debacle tiring now have another boxer vying to take on Conor McGregor in Filipino ring legend and Senator Manny Pacquiao.
“Pac Man” made the claim that he would take on “The Notorious” with Fox Sports, recently. Pacquiao has casually agreed to take on the UFC superstar. The man who lost a decision to Floyd Mayweather in 2015’s “Fight of the Century” confirmed that he would be willing to meet him in the ring, despite having never even seen footage of him as a boxer. The devastating soutpaw explicitly ruled out meeting McGregor in MMA rules:
“In boxing? In boxing [I would fight McGregor] but not in the UFC, just boxing,” Pacquiao said.
“I didn’t see footage of Conor sparring,” Pacquiao said. “But if we are talking about Conor McGregor and boxing, it’s different. Boxing is different than MMA.”
It is no secret that Pacquiao is hoping to capitalize on a second fight with Mayweather, having amassed a giant sum for their first fight in 2015. A fight between Mayweather and the greatest Asian boxer of all time looks more likely than a crossover bout featuring any of the two with “The Pride of Ireland”.
Legendary former eight division world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao last competed in April 2015, scoring a definitive unanimous decision victory in a trilogy bout with Timothy Bradley. In the aftermath of the bout, Pacquaio said that he was retiring in order to pursue a career in the Filipino Senate, although it was also made quite […]
Legendary former eight division world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao last competed in April 2015, scoring a definitive unanimous decision victory in a trilogy bout with Timothy Bradley. In the aftermath of the bout, Pacquaio said that he was retiring in order to pursue a career in the Filipino Senate, although it was also made quite clear that “Pacman” still had the itch to compete inside the squared circle. With that being said, it wasn’t surprising to hear his promoter, Bob Arum, recently announce that he would be returning to action in November, and it now appears as if his opponent is set.
According to his manager (Via Bloody Elbow), Pacquiao will face off against reigning WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas on November 5, 2012. The finer details have yet to be confirmed, but the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada has been confirmed for this date. It’s also possible that the fight may not air on HBO PPV (pay-per-view).
Prior to defeating Bradley last Spring, Pacquiao had dropped a decision to now retired former pound-for-pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather in May 2015 in what was called the biggest fight in the history of the sport. Before that, “Pacman” had won three straight over the likes of Brandon Rios, Bradley, and Chris Algieri.
Vargas, who owns an impressive 27-1 professional record, is coming off of a stoppage victory over Sadam Ali in a bout in which he took home the vacant WBO strap. Prior to that, he had dropped a unanimous decision to Bradley.
Stay tuned as more news regarding the fight breaks.
While Jim Lampley once claimed he “felt terrible” for anyone who spent any amount of money to watch Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, he is now using it as an example to prove that UFC will never be able to produce an event on that level.
Lampley…
While Jim Lampley once claimed he “felt terrible” for anyone who spent any amount of money to watch Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, he is now using it as an example to prove that UFC will never be able to produce an event on that level.
Lampley appeared on the Bill Simmons podcast and spoke about his belief that UFC is promoting in the wrong fashion if they want to have the “super event” type pay-per-views.
“[UFC] make the top people fight against the top people,” Lampley told Simmons. “It’s more like the NFL model where any given Sunday top guys are going to fight top guys. But of course what that eliminates for them is the pinnacle event. When everybody has four to five losses you can’t put together Mayweather-Pacquiao because the public wants to see people rise up way above the normal universe and then get together in some sort of summit meeting and that’s when you get the million buy Pay-Per-View, or in the case with Mayweather-Pacquiao the 4.4 million buy PPV.”
Lampley continued, “UFC will never be able to construct an event like that as long as they use the model they’re using. I’m not saying it’s wrong. I think there are intelligent reasons for them to do what they do but we’re always going to have the bigger showcase events when they happen.”
Simmons pointed out that UFC holds far more consistently high-level events, a point that Lampley refused to go with, as he had to offer his biased-boxing counter point of view.
“That’s why they’re doing so well,” Lampley responded. “It’s a lesser amount of rounds and shorter rounds and it’s more violent so it suits cyber-era attention spans better than the 12-round fight does. There are a lot of reasons why for young people at this moment the UFC is probably more popular that boxing, but we’re not going away.
“We’re not evaporating from the landscape. We still have a certain cache which goes with 125 years of gloved prize fighting existence and all the socio-political impact that our fighters have had.”
