Dana White tells TMZ today that Conor McGregor isn’t fighting Floyd Mayweather, and they don’t actually want to fight, they just like the idea of making the money associated with that fight. He added that if the fight does happen, it won’t be pure boxing rules, that’s for sure.
“I never thought it was going to happen,” Dana said. “Two totally different sports. They seem to want the money, but don’t know how badly they want to make it a reality.”
As far as the fight happening, White made it clear he has control of whether it happens even if the fighters want it to happen. “Conor is under contract with me,” he said.
Then Dana made it clear if it happens, Mayweather is going to face more than punches with boxing gloves on. “We start with kicks punches and elbows,” he said. “Kicks, punches, and elbows.” When asked if he was saying Mayweather has to learn MMA, White clarified: “He doesn’t have to learn anything, but he’s going to get kicked and elbowed.”
Keller’s Analysis: If McGregor wins at UFC 205, I’d expect more talk of this fight. I also think talk of this fight is more a p.r. move by both fighters to keep their names in the news than it is a realistic aspiration to put on a fight. MMA has come far enough as a sport, though, that this feels more like a battle between two top stars in two equal but different sports than what it would have been 15 years ago, which is MMA trying to prove it’s a superior fighting style or trying to utilize boxing to raise the profile of MMA. Conor has so much money to make in UFC if he gets on a hot streak of wins for the next five to ten years, I’m not sure it’s worth risking it by losing to a 39 year old boxer.
make it happen idiots and compromise to make it happen, we waited to long for mayweather vs pacquio, what ever the rules mayweather vs mcgregor would be the biggest fight in mma or boxing or any other combat sport for years.