Conor McGregor is one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts (MMA) — and professional sports in general, so the idea of him doing battle with another of the most polarizing figures — Floyd “Money” Mayweather — is a tantalizing one to say the least.
The two certainly have a history of exchanging words with one another.
After Mayweather mused that perhaps racism played a part in why Conor McGregor was so popular and Mayweather so disrespected, the UFC superstar fired back in an Instagram post.
“I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood. In my family’s long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name ‘McGregor’ was punishable by death.”
Mayweather’s exact comments centered on why people didn’t react in the same way to Conor McGregor’s trash talk than they did to Floyd Mayweather’s.
“And what’s so crazy, I don’t really know the McGregor guy; never seen him fight,” Mayweather said in comments reported by ESPN . “I heard his name actually from one of the runners that works for our company…. He told me about the guy McGregor. They say he talk a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I’m cocky and arrogant. So biased! Like I said before, all I’m saying is this, I ain’t racist at all, but I’m telling you racism still exists.”
To this, Conor McGregor said to “not ever put me in a bracket like this again” and challenged Floyd Mayweather to a fight, adding that he would “give you a fair 80/20 split purse in my favor seen as your last fight bombed at every area of revenue.”
And that’s where this morning’s news really struck a chord because there were actual rumors reported here that the fight was close to happening with a considerably different purse split.
Rather than 80/20, the unnamed “source” close to Mayweather indicated that “Money” would get a $144 million payday to $10 million for Conor McGregor.
Several outlets outside of Inquisitr initially reported the news with very little to go on to give the rumor any kind of weight.
However, as the day continued, it became apparent that the fight wasn’t going to happen after all. As Yahoo ! and MMA Fighting ‘s Ariel Helwani reported, there isn’t a shred of evidence to substantiate the claims, and with McGregor’s previous words it is unlikely he would agree to such a financial split.
Absolutely no truth to this McGregor-Mayweather story. I can’t believe people are actually falling for this nonsense…. (Cont’d)
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 6, 2016
A) McGregor has a UFC contract. He can’t just go fight Mayweather. And b) do you really think he would agree to those pay terms? C’mon now.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 6, 2016
Also, Yahoo! notes, highly respected fight journalists like ESPN ‘s Dan Rafael and Yahoo!’s Kevin Iole have found no legitimate information to indicate that a fight is close to happening.
For Conor McGregor fans, it is likely a positive thing that the fight doesn’t happen. While the Irishman is skilled at what he does inside the octagon, and he’s a solid striker, he does not have the specialized skill set that a boxing champion like Mayweather does (49-0).
Even in MMA, McGregor has plenty of holes in his game with a 19-3 record, fresh off a loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, made even worse by the fact Diaz took the fight on short notice with no training camp and still managed to dispatch Conor inside of two rounds.
But what do you think, readers?
Would Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor be a fight worth seeing? Sound off in the comments section below.
[Image via Facebook /Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor officials]