Coker: MayMac under MMA rules would do better still

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently made around $100,000,000 boxing Floyd Mayweather. The UFC has lost nearly all it’s PPV stars, as Ronda Rousey has effectively retired, Jon Jones is out with a provisional suspension for PEDs, Brock Lesnar has a tolling suspension for PEDs, and GSP returning in November with an unknown drawing power as he has been out since 2013. Thus McGregor’s return to the Octagon is necessary for the UFC to have even a chance at the new UFC owners realizing a return on their $4 billion investment.

UFC rival Bellator CEO Scott Coker spoke recently with Gareth A Davies for The Telegraph and offered a suggestion. Coker believes a MayMac rematch could do even bigger numbers, in the Octagon.

“I have to say Conor surprised me, said Coker. “He did much better than I thought he would. We’ve got to give it to him. He put on an entertaining fight. That was probably the most entertaining fight I’ve seen Floyd Mayweather fight since he was ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd and not ‘Money’ Mayweather.

“I think there is tremendous interest in crossover fights. These fights are extremely large fights with big fighters. Don’t be surprised if Nate Diaz goes in there and has a fight. Don’t be surprised if Paulie Malignaggi comes to MMA and has a fight. You heard Andre Berto say he wants to go to MMA. There’s going to be this back and forth for a little while.”

Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki had that fight in ’77 or ’76 and that was like the first mixed martial arts fight where Ali was boxing and Inoki could throw leg kicks. Then you fast forward to the Randy Couture fight with James Toney.”

“I think when you look at what MMA fighters have to do — they have to box, they have to wrestle, they have to do Thai Boxing and Jiu-Jitsu. They have to combine it all together. That doesn’t mean a boxer can’t do the same thing and go study Jiu-Jitsu and go study wrestling and become an MMA fighter.

“If a boxer wants to take the time and really learn the art of MMA, and he has a big name in boxing and wants to come over, why wouldn’t we want to see that? If Floyd would fight Conor in MMA I think he’d do a bigger gate and a bigger PPV than boxing.”

“People will say Conor will probably take him out or choke him out, but those two guys could sell anything. They would sell that fight, people would buy it and I think it would break the record from the weekend before last.”

“If Conor takes him down, chokes him out and Floyd taps, there’s no loss of respect there. If you tap out it just means it’s his night and you go on to the next fight. Why not let him do it?

Image of Davies interviewing Coker with troll doll courtesy of Bellator MMA.