Our friends at EA really need to make another Fight Night. . .
Earlier this morning, Stephen A. Smith started ESPN’s First Take with some eye-raising news, regarding the potential Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight. He said that he met up with Floyd over the weekend at Golden State’s road game against Oklahoma City, and said that he was getting closer to making a deal become official – with a large smile.
Mayweather even stated he believes this fight could generate more than his $100 million check, he received in 2015 against Manny Pacquiao. Well, even with Stephen A. reiterating that Money Mayweather had said that the fight was not a done deal, many news outlets reported that the inter-promotional bout was complete. That was until UFC President Dana White sent a text message to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto and said, “No deal is even close to being done.”
Last night, McGregor flew into Las Vegas to meet with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, on re-hearing his disciplinary case for the bottle he threw last year at Nate Diaz. Originally, Conor was facing a $150,000 fine; but had it dropped, after agreeing to film a commercial for anti-bullying.
While Conor was in Las Vegas yesterday, he may or may have not met with Floyd to discuss the fight purse, as McGregor would make more than his entire career at the UFC and any fighter ever in the octagon. Both fighters are on the same page with the financial side of things, and we believe an unlikely friendship could actually happen – even if the fight doesn’t go down.
Money Mayweather loves the idea of not having to promote the fight by himself and knows this will be his largest box office affair ever, probably for both sports. So, before that alleged information becomes public knowledge, Dana White is prolonging the inevitable contract signing, before higher-ups at UFC force him to make it official. This could end up getting nasty on the UFC end.
With all of this happening, we’re just curious how much longer Conor can be quiet in regards to Mr. White blocking his big pay day. If you remember last month, McGregor called out the company head for not agreeing to terms with Floyd Mayweather, Al Haymon and CBS.
Stephen A. Smith on ESPN First Take