Conor McGregor Announces Terms For Fighting Floyd Mayweather [Video]
Conor McGregor, the current UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, announced his terms for fighting undefeated boxing phenom Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on stage at New York City’s 1 Oak nightclub Tuesday night, according to a report from Sports Illustrated.
Like McGregor, Mayweather has held titles in multiple weight divisions, including WBO, WBC, WBA, and IBF titles as a welterweight. In his 49 professional fights, he never once lost while defeating boxing legends such as Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, and Manny Pacquiao.
McGregor boasts a record of 23 wins and three losses. His most recent loss came from a rear-naked choke at the hands of Nate Diaz at UFC 196 on March 5.
Conor McGergor and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. have been publicly trading verbal jabs at each other in recent days after Mayweather admitted he had started rumors earlier this year about a possible fight between the two, Sports Illustrated reports.
“Floyd’s not ready for this,” McGregor said in a video posted by TMZ Sports on Wednesday.
“Much respect to Floyd, he’s a solid businessman. What he has been able to do — he’s a f**king animal at what he’s been able to do — but as far as real fighting, as far as true, pure unarmed combat, Floyd don’t want none of this.”
McGregor wouldn’t let up and continued driving home the point that Mayweather was afraid to face him in a “real fight.”
“He wants a boxing match,” McGregor insisted. “He doesn’t want a fight.”
And what exactly will it take to get Conor McGregor to agree to meet Floyd Mayweather in the ring instead of the Octagon? Nothing but good, old-fashioned cash, of course. A whole lot of it.
“I want a $100 million cash to fight him under boxing rules,” McGregor said, adding, again, “He’s afraid of a real fight.”
McGregor suggested similar terms in August, ESPN‘s Brett Okamoto noted.
“He’s running around the Showtime offices, begging those executives to come up with the $100 million cash he needs to fight me,” McGregor said of Mayweather at the time, according to Okamoto. “As soon as he gets my money, we can fight.”
So Floyd Mayweather doesn’t want to be compared to Conor McGregor.???????? pic.twitter.com/wrZcM8Ttq5
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) November 15, 2016
Mayweather has been dismissive of the prospect so far.
In an impromptu sidewalk interview with TMZ Sports released Tuesday, Mayweather claimed he “didn’t even know” about McGregor’s win over former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez last Saturday. That fight gave McGregor his second current title.
When the interviewer suggested that McGregor was “like the Floyd Mayweather of the MMA,” Mayweather looked incredulous.
“I didn’t know Conor McGregor was undefeated,” Mayweather calmly quipped. “I didn’t know he had a reign in MMA for 20 years at undefeated and was world champion in five different weight classes. That’s something I didn’t know.”
Moments later, his tone became testier.
“Never compare Conor McGregor to me,” he said. “That’s total disrespect.”
Mayweather ended the exchange by directly insulting McGregor.
“I’m an elephant. Elephant don’t beef with ants,” He said. “Elephant is so large, he don’t even see ants.”
Floyd Mayweather doesn’t think Conor McGregor is on his level. (via TMZ Sports) pic.twitter.com/mfvZW4FlZD
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 15, 2016
The next day, TMZ Sports caught up with McGregor on the streets of New York City and asked him what he thought of Mayweather’s comments.
“Tell him to say it to my face,” McGregor replied as he got into a black SUV.
If McGregor’s unscripted statements at 1 Oak Tuesday night are any indicator, Mayweather’s comments got under his skin at least a little.
McGregor’s terms would mean a huge pay increase for the Irish-born MMA fighter, if the fight were ever to materialize. According to Okamoto at ESPN, McGregor earned a disclosed purse of $3 million for his non-title welterweight rematch fight against Diaz at UFC 202 in August, which remains “the richest disclosed purse in mixed martial arts history.”
Okamoto notes that the New York State Athletic Commission has yet to disclose McGregor’s purse for his UFC 205 title victory over Alvarez last Saturday.
Mayweather, on the other hand, has had several fights with huge purses. Forbes estimates that he earned almost $200 million for his fight against Manny Pacquiao, for instance. That fight generated upwards of $550 million in pay-per-view sales, ticket sales, merchandising, and sponsorships.
As popular as a fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. would be, that’s a high standard to beat.
[Featured Image by Michael Reaves/Getty Images]
