The dream match between undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and UFC superstar Conor McGregor is getting closer to becoming a reality. Last year, the two men said they wanted to fight each other in the ring, but there were a lot of things standing in the way, not the least of which was the UFC holding the rights to anything McGregor wants to do. UFC President Dana White seems to have cleared the way, and now ESPN reports that Mayweather has made comments that he wants to fight McGregor on Aug. 26 in Las Vegas.
The possible fight
The Conor McGregor vs.
Floyd Mayweather fight would take place under the eyes of the UFC, but it was Mayweather’s team at Mayweather Promotions who plan to request the date of Aug. 26 from the Nevada State Athletic Commission for the fight. Floyd has been retired for 23 months but said he would come out of retirement to fight MMA star McGregor. The Nevada commission will meet up on Wednesday, and that is when Floyd’s team was supposed to officially request the date.
At the moment, the team of Floyd Mayweather is still playing coy about the entire idea. The news reported that they wanted to meet with the Commission to get permission to promote an “unspecified boxing event” and named Showtime as their partner for the fight.
That request was pulled from the table, and they won’t ask the commission on Wednesday after all. Instead, they are planning to wait until the deal between Floyd and Conor McGregor is officially finalized, which will also include permissions from the UFC and details of the payouts.
What stands in the way?
The big reason that the fight has not materialized yet is because of money.
Floyd Mayweather regularly makes over $100 million to fight plus bonuses. Conor McGregor has never made over $10 million to fight. The UFC and President Dana White offered both men lowball deals, and Floyd laughed it off. Conor has also been difficult, believing that he is the money star in the fight and wants as much as Floyd, which the undefeated boxer has blown off as well.
However, it looks like Conor McGregor, 28, and Floyd Mayweather, 40, have come to an agreement on money, and they plan to have their fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will show the fight on Showtime. The date they are looking at is Aug. 26, but there still needs to be contracts signed before they make it official. The deal is being worked out between Mayweather’s team and the UFC’s parent organization.
