Conor McGregor believes that there is one way to ensure that he gets his wish to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.
McGregor further expanded on his intention to realize a potential cross-over superfight, in a pay-per-view interview held on Saturday in England. McGregor has made no secret of his desires to face the unbeaten ring legend, in what could potentially be a record-breaking 50-0 win for ‘Money’.
The 39 year old welterweight spoke with pundits prior to the Carl Frampton vs Leo Santa Cruz rematch Saturday night in Las Vegas, and signalled positively when discussing the chances of a bout. Mayweather sees the weight class at somewhere between 147 or 150 pounds, also confirming that he would insist on the fight falling under the Showtime pay-per-view banner.
While Mayweather feels that the fight can “absolutely” happen, UFC President Dana White, promised that McGregor would suffer an “epic fall” if he reneges on his UFC contract/excludes the MMA promotion from having a say in the bout.
‘The Notorious’ is a shrewd businessman, and arguably the closest combat sports star in comparison to Mayweather in terms of the craft of self-publicity. The Irishman has not exclusively disregarded any UFC involvement in the bout, but has asserted that the ‘Ali Act’ (named after boxing’s greatest personality, Muhammad Ali) could be utilized if needs be, in order to guarantee the fight happens:
“Me and Floyd have got to get together and talk and figure it out the same way him and Manny (Pacquiao) figured it out,” McGregor said. “Once we come to a number, once we come to a set number that I’m happy with, that he’s happy with and then we go to the customers. Then we go to the promoters, the buyers and then we get it done. That’s next. “I’ll go to Vegas, I’ll handle the commission or we’ll figure that situation out and then we’ll come to a dotted line and then we’ll go, but this is happening. I’m going to fly out there, fix it, I’m going to get my Las Vegas boxing (license) and then we’ll see where the f*** Floyd’s at!” said Mcgregor.
The fight is already beyond speculation, according to the Dubliner:
“That fight is more than being explored. That fight has been in the works for a while now. Look, there’s a lot of steps to get through to get the fight done but it’s the fight to make. It’s the fight that people want. It’s the fight I want. It’s the fight I know I’m confident going in there.
“I believe [the fight can happen] with the Ali Act, I believe I can, especially now that there’s offers on the table. But I think it’s smoother if we’re all involved. I think we’re all about good business. I’ve done great business with the UFC, with Dana, with everyone. I think it’s smoother if everyone just gets together, we get it involved, but again everyone’s got to know their place.
In referring to how McGregor feels the fight would pan out, he did state that he is backing himself for what would be a huge upset:
“I’ve got the reach, I’ve got the youth, I’ve got the confidence, I’ve got the unpredictable style. You can’t prepare for a style like me. A guy said to me ‘why conquer one world when you can conquer two’ so I’m going to go conquer two worlds. At the end of the day, it’s another day for me. My fist is bigger than his head, seriously. I know every single shot he’s been hit with. I know every single shot he’s been hurt with. I know southpaws have caused him a hell of a lot of trouble. I know everything. Trust me, I don’t care what rule set it’s under. Most people don’t know sh*t about fighting. I’m going to teach him about true fighting and that’s it. I land one anywhere on the dome, he’s going to know about it”
The plot thickens…
