Sorry, fight fans. Whether or not Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have agreed to terms or not, there’s simply no way their super-fight is “very, very close” to happening, as Mayweather reportedly told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith over the weekend.
On Tuesday morning, buzz surrounding the long-rumored matchup reignited with a story from The Sun claiming a deal had been struck between the two biggest names in combat sports. Per the report:
After months of intense negotiations, representatives for “The Notorious” have thrashed out a money-spinning contract with ‘Money’ Mayweather’s camp in recent days. Although the bombshell agreement is yet to be formally signed because of a third party hold-up, it means the 28-year-old Crumlin brawler will go toe-to-toe with the undefeated 39-year-old boxing great.
The Sun also said the super-fight could be announced “within two weeks.”
While even a declaration of the bout within that timeframe feels premature, the notion of McGregor and Mayweather actually trading blows anytime soon is the part that really shouldn't be believed.
Now, McGregor has landed in Las Vegas with his management in an attempt to do business with “The Money Team,” according to Ariel Helwani, in addition to meeting with the UFC brass and the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) to settle up his fine and community service obligations.
McGregor's plan has been: meet with NAC to clear issue, then TMT, then UFC. That's what's going on now. Early stages of that plan. — Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 14, 2017
If McGregor has already managed to meet with all three parties, it's not outside the realm of possibility that he and Mayweather could have verbally agreed on a revenue split that would appease both sides. With that said, there's no way their camps could have worked out all the logistics for a bout of this magnitude in one sit-down. Like we saw in the lead-up to Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, agreeing on the many intricacies of a super-fight promotion takes months, if not years.
More to the point, the UFC would have to play some role in said negotiations. If not, McGregor would likely be taken to court by UFC President Dana White and the WME-IMG brass over a breach of contract — an injunction that would inevitably delay the fight for months, if not years.