New comments from UFC President Dana White suggest that a boxing mega-fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr is closer than ever to becoming a reality.
Speaking on ‘The Herd’ show with Colin Cowherd on FOX Sports 1 yesterday, White revealed that he is almost finished negotiating a deal with ‘The Notorious’, but he still has to hammer out terms with Mayweather’s advisors, who are led by Al Hayman.
“I think we get the McGregor side done in the next couple of days, and then I go lock myself in a room for a couple of days with Team Mayweather and see what we can come out with,” White told Cowherd.
White went on to estimate that “if it sells as well as I think it can,” then the fight could earn McGregor $75 million and Mayweather a little over $100 million.
It remains to be seen whether Mayweather will be happy to accept that, however, as ‘Money’ and Hayman are used to dictating their own terms, and they’ve already earned bigger amounts than this in the past – with the boxing superstar’s fight with Manny Pacquiao earning him in the region of $220 million just a couple of years ago.
“He feels like he’s the A side, and he should get more of it,” White said of Mayweather. “We haven’t really gotten into that negotiation yet. I wanted to get McGregor locked in first, because McGregor’s under contract with me.
“At the end of the day, does this fight make a ton of sense for me? It really doesn’t. Conor wants this thing really bad, and I’ve said it many times, the kid’s stepped up and saved some big fights for me. So I’m in. I’ll figure it out.”
So, the Mayweather side of the deal is still a work in progress, but one thing White was more certain of is the fact that from a branding perspective the UFC will be distancing themselves from the mega-fight if it does go through.
“It’s not going to be the UFC – it’s going to be a boxing match,” White confirmed.
