The most unlikely yet intriguing fight in the history of combat sports is reportedly one step closer to happening. The Irish Sun is reporting that Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor have come to agreement on the financial aspect of a potential fight between the two, presumably a boxing match.
The Sun article cites a source close to McGregor saying that “Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have agreed a deal to fight and have both settled on their respective fees. The contract hasn’t officially been signed yet because of a third party hold-up, but all the details have all been agreed on.”
The third party hold-up could likely be UFC, whom McGregor is under contract with. It could also be the Nevada Athletic Commission, who did grant McGregor a license to box, but would still have to approve the fight. The source went on to say that the fight could be announced as soon as the next two weeks.
Once a pipedream and not considered to be much more than a negotiating ploy by McGregor against UFC, the fight has been discussed more seriously since Mayweather began commenting publicly on the possibility of fighting McGregor.
UFC President Dana White had previously offered $25 million to take the fight under UFC’s banner. Mayweather laughed off the offer as he has become accustomed to nine figure paydays.
Mayweather and McGregor are the two biggest pay-per-view draws in their respective sports. Mayweather peaked at over four million buys for his long-awaited fight against Manny Pacquiao while McGregor has proven to be a consistent million buy performer for UFC. A fight between the two would surely do huge business. Exactly how much is difficult to guage as such a fight is unprecedented.
Hiscoe’s Analysis: While It’s not yet a done deal, I’m amazed at the speed that this fight appears to be coming together at. It went from longshot fantasy booking to a realistic prospect in the last month or so. A lot can still happen, but this is looking more and more like it’s going to take place. Clearly Mayweather is going to be a huge favorite, but he should still take the fight seriously as a loss to McGregor would be a huge blow to his legacy and to boxing.
TUESDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…
-Brock Lesnar has notified UFC of his retirement. This will take him out of the USADA testing pool. He was under suspension until July at the time of his retirement. His suspension will be frozen and he would have to complete the remaining five months and be in the testing pool before he could fight again. (SOURCE)
-Michael Bisping told “The MMA Hour” that he “assumes” Yoel Romero will be his next fight but hasn’t heard word from UFC as of yet.
-Germaine de Randamie, in an Instagram post, said that she owed it to Holly Holm to give her a rematch to erase any controversy over their fight at UFC 208. Holm’s manager was not in favor of a rematch. “I don’t know if we want to fight in the cheater division,” he told MMAFighting. “We’ve got one girl who takes drugs and one who doesn’t follow the rules.”
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ROUNDUP
-Joe Soto vs. Rani Haha at UFC Fight Night Fortaleza on March 11.
-Gunnar Nelson vs. Alan Jouban at UFC Fight Night London on March 28.
NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: MONDAY NEWS DIGEST: Technically, the late punches by de Randamie at UFC 208 were not against the rules says ref trainer (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)
(MMATorch’s Daily News Digest features the top story of the day with added analysis, plus smaller tidbits in the News Notes section. Mike Hiscoe, who writes the News Digest Sundays through Thursdays, has a background in film criticism and previously wrote for the DVD Town and Movie Metropolis websites. His passion for Mixed Martial Arts goes back to 2005, but it was in the promotion for UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie that he really got hooked.”This is my house, I build it,” is still among the all-time great UFC promos. You can follow Mike on social media under the tag @mikehiscoe. He now provides his experienced writing and perspective on live MMA events for MMATorch.)
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