After months of rumors and smack talk between the two, a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor may actually be coming together. Reports are now that the fight is in an ‘exploratory’ stage, with all sides beginning to throw out multi-million dollar offers. Yesterday, UFC president Dana White made his bid: $25 million plus an undisclosed cut of PPV profits. When asked by TMZ what he thought of the proposal, Mayweather laughed.
“Aaah, he’s a f**king comedian!” Floyd said, before showing off one of his ridiculously expensive watches as further proof showing how beneath him the offer was.
White gave his own response to TMZ later that night.
“Let me tell you what, we all know that $25 million isn’t peanuts, and so does Floyd Mayweather,” he said. “He’s hanging his watch out the window, his watch is the problem. When you’re wearing a watch that’s $250,000, you’re gonna need $25 million real quick, pal. Real quick. Hey Floyd, taxes are coming up soon too, buddy. Those guys are gonna be all over you, pal.”
“Floyd said that he made an offer. He never made an offer, it’s not true. I made an offer. So if you’re serious, there’s a real offer. Where do we go from here, Floyd?”
Based on Floyd’s response, the answer is obviously up. Mayweather has said in the past that he wants a $100 million dollar guarantee to fight McGregor, and McGregor has thrown around the same number himself. Unless Dana White’s proposed cut of the PPV profits is much more generous than it typically is for UFC fighters, the math won’t add up in a way that will make either fighter happy.
In fact, it’s very possible that with the UFC involved, a fight between Floyd and Conor will never come together. The promotion is too used to taking the lion’s share of all the money made off a pay-per-view event, while Mayweather is on the opposite side of that spectrum. McGregor obviously wants a Mayweather sized paycheck too, hence why he’s angling for the Mayweather fight so badly. And we’re not sure he’s willing to let it slip away because the UFC isn’t willing to play ball in Floyd’s league.
The last we heard, McGregor wanted the new UFC owners to come to Ireland and talk business with him … business that would involve cutting him in on equity in the company. Not only has the UFC not gone to visit him, White responded to McGregor’s latest comments by saying “When Conor’s ready to talk, he knows where I am.”
For some reason, we don’t think McGregor’s response to this will be all that different than Floyd’s.
