UK tabloid The Sun caused a stir on Friday with a report that Floyd Mayweather would be returning for a 50th professional fight against UFC Champion Conor McGregor, a ridiculous notion on the surface which nevertheless led to conversation and comment in both the MMA and boxing worlds. It even led oddsmakers to set lines for a potential fight (they had McGregor +900 in the imaginary world in which that fight were to happen).
Obviously it’s not remotely close to being true, and UFC President Dana White chimed in on the topic in an interview with Kevin Iole at Yahoo Sports in order to solidify that stance.
“It’s not true; it’s just a tabloid story,” White said. “And as far as I knew, Floyd is retired and he’s been on a world-wide vacation and hasn’t even been thinking of fighting.”
As reported earlier in the day, McGregor is expected to still get his rematch with Nate Diaz, just six weeks after UFC 200 at UFC 202.
Penick’s Analysis: Even the money talked about in the Sun piece was ludicrous, because McGregor wouldn’t be commanding only $10 million in the event he was somehow able to fight Mayweather. It’s not something he could do anyway with his UFC contract, making this a nonstarter from the outset. Even talking about it here is giving it more credence than is warranted. At any rate, it’s not happening, it couldn’t happen even if they wanted it to happen, and McGregor’s going to be fighting in the Octagon at the very least through the end of his current contract.
[Photo (c) Mark J. Rebilas via USA Today Sports]
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