We all know that Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather aren’t actually going to fight. Or at least, we were pretty damn certain of it a couple months ago. But, as time passes, talk of this potential boxing vs. MMA mega-fight just won’t go away. It’s a bout that makes no kind of sense except for the piles of money it would likely generate for its two stars.
Competitively, it’d be a wash. Mayweather would get trounced in MMA, just like Conor McGregor would get trounced in the ring. Or would he?
On a recent episode of Joe Rogan’s Fight Companion podcast, the UFC announcer certainly didn’t pick McGregor to win a theoretical showdown with Mayweather, but he gave a path he sees to victory for the Irishman (transcript via MMA Fighting):
“There’s something about [Conor McGregor]. I’m telling you, there’s something about that dude. He’s got something going on. He’s got a little something extra special but he would need everything to line up.
“Mayweather would have to dismiss him as a threat. He’d have to not train hard enough, he’d have to not seriously consider the possibility that Conor connects on him and knocks him out. And then Conor would have to do some roughhousing. He’d have to hold him in the clinch. He’d have to hold him and hit him. He’d have to try and get off as many shots and bully him around and wear him out. It’s a possibility. He’s a much bigger man. He’s a much bigger man. If you compare the two of them frame-wise, if they ever do do it, and they’re standing right at each other, looking down at each other doing eye-to-eye, you’re gonna go ‘oh, s**t.’ [Conor]’s a big f**k. He can make that 145-pound cut when he’s on death’s door, but Mayweather makes it easy.”
And as outlandish as that all may seem (after all, Mayweather handled the size and power of Canelo Alvarez just fine), at least one former opponent of McGregor isn’t dismissing the possibility. Nate Diaz recently gave his take, saying that, while he thinks it’s all a publicity stunt, “McGregor, when it comes to boxing, is good. He’s got a good chance to make something happen in two or three rounds. If anything, he has two or three good rounds. He’s got an amateur style; he’s got good movement and good punches for six or eight minutes… He’s got a puncher’s chance, if anything.”
It’s hardly a ringing endorsement from either man, but it’s better than nothing. In the meantime, as McGregor and his partner await the birth of their first child, fans are probably going to hear a lot more speculation on just when and who he’s going to face when he finally returns to the cage.
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