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03rd Apr 2017

It sounds like money is the be-all-and-end-all for the McGregor / Mayweather bout

Ben Kiely

The almighty dollar ruined the Italian Stallion in Rocky III and now it’s trying its best to destroy MMA.

There’s no denying that getting paid excessive amounts of money is something that drives Conor McGregor. The man pretty much started this new trend of fighters asking for ‘money fights.’ What separates McGregor from his lemmings though, is that the fighters he calls out are more than willing to oblige because the numbers prove that his involvement brings most of the eyes.

However, he’s no fool. He knows a huge payday when he sees one, and right now, the biggest possible one available to him is that crossover megafight against Floyd Mayweather. Obviously, there is the unique challenge of trying to hand one of the greatest boxers ever his first loss, but undoubtedly the money on the line is a large motivating factor.

Weighing up everything that makes this fight interesting, Gunnar Nelson hinted that the UFC would be hard pressed finding a match-up that would entice McGregor back to the Octagon. The SBG fighter made the comments during a recent interview with ESPN:

“It will depend on certain things. Money is not the only thing he cares about, at all. He does care about it a lot, but if a fight excites him and he thinks it’s a great challenge, if it’s making history and all that kind of stuff, he’ll do it.”

If you followed the negotiations for the ‘Fight of the Century’ between Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio, you probably won’t hold out too much hope over McGregor securing his diamond-encrusted panty night anytime soon.

We haven’t seen McGregor fight since that historic knockout of Eddie Alvarez in November 2016 and Gunni believes he’s willing to sit out for an entire calendar year before he fights again:

“He’s got a lot of money now that keeps him occupied. He can do a lot of stuff. I think he’d be alright for a year. He always has something cooking. Right now, it’s the Mayweather fight, and that seems like it’s going to happen. I think he’ll keep himself busy one way or another.”

“He needs to keep himself busy in some way, because he’s a pretty hyper guy. He’s not just sitting around the house. If he wouldn’t have anything to do, he’d probably be up to no good. He’ll always figure something out. He needs excitement.”

Excitement, you say? What could be more exciting than fighting Tony Fergu…oh, who are we kidding? The Mayweather fight is right there for the taking. Margaret McGregor didn’t raise no fool.