Conor McGregor May Go to War With the UFC to Fight Floyd Mayweather
Dana White warns of an ‘epic fall.’
Skepticism about an eventual boxing match between currently retired champ Floyd Mayweather and UFC superstar Conor McGregor may have been wrong. It’s really beginning to look like the fight could happen. It’s also apparent that McGregor doesn’t care about the UFC’s opinion of that, and the UFC—at least Dana White—is not happy.
Speaking to MMAFighting.com on Saturday, McGregor addressed the fact he apparently means to do the bout without UFC approval. He said that he and Mayweather needed to “get together and figure it out, the same way Floyd and Manny figured it out.”
McGregor went on to say that as soon as he and the boxer could set a dollar amount that made them both happy, they would “go to the customers, we go to the promoters, the buyers. And then we get it done.”
“That’s next,” he continued, “I’ll go to Vegas and I’ll handle the commission, we’ll figure that situation out. And we’ll come to a dotted line and then we’ll go. But this is happening.”
In the same interview McGregor said he believed he was legally allowed to do the fight regardless of what the UFC might think, though he felt it would be “smoother with all involved.”
“I’ve done great business with the UFC,” said the Notorious One, “with Dana [White] and everyone. But again, everyone’s gotta know their place. So we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
That all sounds pretty polite for Conor McGregor, amenable even, but if you’ve watched the video of Dana White’s interview above, you know that prior to the interview, the motor-mouthed Irish dual champion posted this on Instagram:
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White seems amused in the video of his own interview, which occurred after UFC on Fox, but he does seem to grow serious when he says, “I’ve always shown Conor nothing but respect… if he wants to go down that road with us, let me tell you, it’ll be an epic fall.”
White means the lawyers will get involved, of course, but just saying that would not be very UFC.
So it could happen, this match for the ages once thought to be purely aspirational. But right now it looks like small armies of attorneys, agents, and officials might have to do battle first.
h/t Brobible