Chael Sonnen firmly believes that anything less than a Conor McGregor loss in the first round to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring would be a shameful day for boxing.
UFC President Dana White made an appearance on Wednesday’s episode of “Conan” on TBS, where he indicated his approval for “The Billion Dollar Fight”. While no unknown details were disclosed by White, many saw his official thumbs up for the bout as progress towards making the fight happen.
The most talked about match-up in combat sports would be nothing short of a goldmine for those involved. The fight will undoubtedly be the highest grossing pay-per-view (PPV) sporting event in history, with both MMA and boxing fans willing to dig deep to watch the spectacle between MMA’s biggest and, arguably, boxing’s best ever. After the build up, trash talk and promotional material both men will enter the ring to square off. Conor McGregor doesn’t stand much of a chance, however, according to former UFC title challenger and MMA analyst Chael Sonnen (via the You’re Welcome podcast):
“I think the fact that anybody is weighing in that there’s a contest there is such an incredible disrespect to boxing. If that fight goes more than 30 seconds, it shames boxing. If it goes out of the first round, it humiliates boxing.
“If I was to tell you in any other sport, ‘Hey, we’ve got a great athlete from one field, that’s never done a sport before, and he’s gonna come on and take on the best current living guy in that sport,’ it’d be laughed at. If I told you, I’ve got a guy who’s never played basketball, sure he’s shot the ball around and been on a court and had the ball in his hand, but he’s never played a competitive game of basketball before, and we’re gonna put him up against LeBron James, it would be laughed at. ‘We’ve got a gal that’s never played tennis before, she’s fooled around with a ball in the gym, she’s gonna take on Serena Williams,’ it would be laughed at.
“The fact that there’s even an interest there – and I’m one of the people that shares the interest – but the fact that there’s even an interest there is so disrespectful to the entire sport of boxing. When that fight’s done, Conor is gonna go more than 30 seconds. He’s likely to go more than one round – he shouldn’t, but he is likely to go more than one round – and it’s going to humiliate boxing.”
Sonnen did confirm that he believes the fight is on and hinted at an upcoming announcement in the near future.
