Despite initially claiming that a proposed boxing bout between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor wouldn't happen, UFC president Dana White seems to have finally come around to the idea of the super fight. During an appearance on "Conan" on Wednesday, Dana White claimed that although a deal wasn't done for the blockbuster fight, he was now optimistic that it would happen.
UFC president changes tune on Mayweather vs. McGregor
White had shut down talk of the proposed bout between the UFC lightweight champion McGregor and the former pound for pound boxing champion Mayweather on several occasions.
He then offered Mayweather a purse to fight the UFC contracted star McGregor which the 40-year old boxer was quick to turn down before seemingly denying the possibility of the fight again, saying that the likelihood of the two meeting in a boxing ring was less than him backing up Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. However, it now seems that White has changed his tune, as he told Conan O'Brien on Wednesday that even though he thinks it's going to be a "tough deal" to make, he believes that it's "going to happen" as "there's so much money involved."
White said that McGregor has a lot of options in front of him, and that although the fight with Mayweather didn't make a lot of sense from a business perspective for the UFC, that he would "never keep Conor from making that kind of money."
Dana White believes McGregor has a chance against Mayweather
The UFC president was then quick to justify McGregor's chances in the bout, claiming that Mayweather in the past has notoriously struggled with southpaws and that McGregor hits hard, and is younger and larger than Floyd.
Mayweather, 40, walked away from the sport after a unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto in October 2015, but announced last week that he would be coming out of retirement to face the UFC star, with reports even suggesting that the pair had settled on a date and venue for the clash. UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping recently claimed that Mayweather was returning after being scammed out of a significant sum of his fortune.
