“[Mayweather] needs me. I don’t need him. I’m not taking a pay cut… [Last month] I was in a time where I was like, figuring out something. I didn’t just shut out and say no to everything. I just wanted to do reasonable media, and then, hey, all of a sudden, ‘Conor, it’s three months from the fight, we’ve got to drag you [onto] 40-hour flights to come and do a runaround, New York, Vegas, California, 70 press conferences, 70 talk shows, adverts, all of this,’ and it’s like, I already made you $400 million last week. That was only last week, that fight. I need to get right. That’s how it all came about. I just wanted to focus and I was deep in the process, and especially at that particular moment, I just wanted a little bit more time. I didn’t shut it off completely. Reasonable media, is what I said. I said I would do New York. I said I would do everything else after that. I just needed another little bit to set myself, and then the lack of communication, they weren’t having it. They were trying to push back on me, I was trying to push back on them, and look, it blew up then.”
-Conor McGregor addresses Floyd Mayeather rumors and his rift with the UFC from last month during an interview with ESPN on “The Sunday Conversation” (transcribed by MMAFighting.com).
Penick’s Analysis: That last sentence is key. Both sides took a hardline stance, and it led to the fight getting blown up. Now, they’ve got bigger issues in trying to appease Nate Diaz, because McGregor’s ready to go for August 20 and UFC 202. I’d assume they’ll get it figured out, because they still want that fight to happen. There’s too much money in it for them not to get it together after already taking it off the schedule once. As for the Mayweather situation, McGregor would try to command much more than has been discussed for that fight, and because the UFC would almost assuredly need to be involved for anything to come of it, they’d need their cut as well. All of that’s to say it’s just not going to happen.
[Photo (c) Gary A. Vasquez via USA Today Sports]
Attention iPhone/iPad and Android users, if you’ve enjoyed our app in the past and followed us there, or if you’ve never checked it out, make sure to update to the latest version in the Apple store and/or Google Play store. We’ve launched a new look for the app, in line with our recent desktop overhaul. Make sure to check it out!
For current App users, swipe right to view next article, swipe left to view previous article.
Leave a Reply