Dana White Discusses Possibility of Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor Bout

The possibility of a bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor has left fight fans buzzing recently, and UFC President Dana White is open to the idea, provided it takes place under his watch. 

In an interview Wednesday on the Dan Patrick Show (h/t MMA Fighting), White urged Mayweather to contact him if he has interest in taking on the UFC featherweight champion: "[McGregor] is under contract with the UFC. Listen, if Floyd wants to fight Conor, call me, Floyd."

However, on Thursday, White was much more pessimistic about the fight, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com: 

"

Let me put it to you this way. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are in the same sport. It took how long for those two to fight? Now imagine how hard it would be to get (Mayweather and McGregor) to fight. They're not in the same sport.

[...]

Is this thing going to be MMA or boxing rules? Who's getting the lion's share of the money? This and that. It's impossible. But like I've said, 'Floyd, you want to fight Conor, call me.'

"

On May 6, James Beal and Matt Heath-Smith of the Sun reported the two combatants were on the verge of agreeing to terms for a fight, but it hasn't been confirmed.

Both fighters have commented publicly about it, though, and they have expressed interest in potentially making it happen.

According to Luis Sandoval of FightHype.com, the 39-year-old Mayweather didn't dismiss the notion last Saturday that the clash may happen: "It's possible...it was a name that was shot at me...the rumors that y'all been hearing is the rumors that I started...it may not be a rumor...keep y'all fingers crossed...it may be a boxer versus an MMA fighter."

Per Gareth A. Davies of BT Sport (h/t Bleacher Report's Matt Jones), the 27-year-old McGregor showed a willingness to discuss the fight as well: "I'm open to discussions; come at me. But I hold the key, and it's me who holds the key to the fight game. I am open-minded. I am open to discussion. I love competition. I love fighting. It would be nice to make that fight if the fans were interested and wanted to see it."

Mayweather is retired from boxing, and McGregor briefly teased retirement from MMA before clearing the air.

The Irish superstar was initially slated to face Nate Diaz at UFC 200 in a rematch of his UFC 196 loss, but they were replaced by Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier due to the uncertainty surrounding McGregor's status at the time.

That means the door may be open for McGregor to accept another fight, and he seemingly hasn't ruled out Mayweather as an option.

White's apparent insistence on making the bout happen under the UFC umbrella could be problematic since Mayweather often likes to dictate negotiations, which is a big reason why his fight against Manny Pacquiao took so long to materialize.

There is a ton of money to be made for all involved since Mayweather and McGregor are perhaps the two biggest draws in combat sports, though, and it is safe to assume that a pay-per-view headlined by that fight would break records in terms of both viewership and profit.

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