It’s a well-known fact that UFC president Dana White is not the biggest fan of freakshow fights. You can count on your fingers how many times the UFC has allowed the Kimbo Slices, James Toneys, and CM Punks of the world into the promotion for a fight, which is why it seems so unlikely he’d allow his biggest pay-per-view draw in Conor McGregor to fight in a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.
In a recent conversation with one of TMZ’s roving gang of cameramen, he reiterated his doubts about the fight. “No, I never thought it was gonna happen,” he said. “Never. It’s two totally different sports. They seem to want the money, probably, but I don’t know how bad they actually wanna make it a reality.”
But Dana has also said Floyd Mayweather should call him if he’s serious about putting something together. White may not be interested in seeing McGregor get trounced in a boxing ring, but add a few extra weapons from mixed martial arts and things could get interesting.
“Listen, Conor’s under contract with me,” White continued, before seemingly revealing a starting point for rules negotiations. “We can start with kicks, punches, and elbows. [Mayweather] doesn’t have to learn anything … but he’s gonna get kicked and elbowed.”
That’s probably not something Mayweather is too interested in dealing with, and maybe the reason he suddenly decided to “move on” from a McGregor fight. Floyd’s game is so dependent on taking advantage of the specific rules and allowances of boxing that some accuse him of effectively hacking the sport. Having to deal with muay thai attacks would completely change the fight’s dynamics.
It’s interesting, though, to hear Dana White entertain the match up, even if his insistence that it be more than just a straight boxing fight basically relegates the bout to Never Never Land. Realistically, that’s where it’s existed since the beginning. Floyd could barely come to terms with Manny Pacquiao for the biggest fight of their career, and that one was a no-brainer. With so many more moving parts to make a Floyd vs. Conor inter-sport something or other, we’re probably fooling ourselves to think it could ever come together.