After a little over a year in retirement, undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather officially challenges UFC's lightweight champion to a boxing match.
The subject of fighting one of the UFC's most popular champions in history was brought up during an exclusive interview on ESPN's First Take, where Mayweather claimed that the only thing that would tempt him into returning to the ring was a boxing match with the Irish MMA champion.
McGregor has attempted to lure Mayweather into the Octagon in the past, but this time the retired boxing champion, who left the sport with a perfect fight record of 49 wins and 0 losses, is offering McGregor $15m to box. He priced his own participation at $100m and insists that he is ready to make this fight a reality in 2017.
"We tried to make the Conor McGregor fight, they know what my number is. My number is a guaranteed $100m. That was my number. We are willing to give him $15m and then we can talk about splitting the percentage - the back end - on the pay-per-view," he said.
When it comes to predicting the likely winner, it has been widely debated whether Mayweather would stand a chance against the mixed martial artist in the Octagon. McGregor's powerful kicks and uniquely unpredictable style are just enough to out-do Mayweather's undeniable striking power.
Whether McGregor would win under Queensberry rules, on the other hand, are widely believed to be low at best. McGregor may an incredibly talented striker by UFC standards with 16 knockout wins under his belt, but boxing is an entirely different sport that prohibits grappling and McGregor's strongest asset as a fighter - kicks.
There are also concerns about boxing licences. Conor may have a licence to box in the state of California, but Mayweather is licensed to fight in Nevada, and the Las Vegas Strip is where his last 14 matches took place.
Conor's application for a Las Vegas boxing licence has already been denied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, yet in spite of this online casinos and sports bookers are already coming up with betting odds, and if you want to start placing bets you can put down some cash at one of these vetted online casinos. Just because you can, however, doesn't mean you should since a licence to fight is not the only legal obstacle McGregor and Mayweather need to overcome before meeting in the ring.
Before any fight McGregor needs to get the UFC's approval per his contract, and based on a statement made last month by the MMA league's founder, Dana White, who addressed the initial rumors of the bout, this fight is less than likely to be approved by any fighting commission, much less the UFC.
"It's fun to talk about this fight and what might happen, but what commission would let that fight happen? Really, think about that, I have no idea what Conor is doing. Conor's Conor. He does his thing. But he's under contract to me," said White.
Whether this is purely a publicity stunt to boost both fighters' ratings at the start of a new year remains to be seen. If not, it is guaranteed that a fight between these two champions would draw in millions of boxing and UFC fans as well as millions of dollars in revenue along with them.
