Hallelujah: FMJ ‘moving on’ from plan to fight McGregor

Early in May, a report surfaced in Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun, the biggest-selling newspaper in the UK, that Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr would shortly announce they’d be boxing in Vegas. The next day Mayweather Sr confirmed the pair would be fighting.

Actual dinosaur Bob Arum said it was ridiculous lunacy. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan speculated about how and why the UFC could allow it to take place. UFC president Dana White noted over and again that Floyd had never called him. But FOX Sports host Colin Cowherd said it was really happening, and gave the date – September 17. They even fought in a bar on April 1st!

Talk died down some but in July, McGregor’s team released footage of ‘Notorious’ boxing sparring with former world boxing champion Chris Van Heerden, whose brother incidentally in a heavyweight MMA fighter. Van Heerden said Mayweather would outbox McGregor all day, and that set off another round of chatter.

Now in an interview with Fight Hype, Mayweather says he couldn’t make the deal.

“I tried to make the fight happen between me and Conor McGregor,” said Mayweather. “We wasn’t able to make the fight happen. So we must move on.

“It’s so crazy that I talk about fighting Conor McGregor, and now you’ve got so many other fighters that’s in boxing, that wants to fight Conor McGregor. But I was the first, once again.”

“I feel honored to be the biggest name in MMA and in boxing and I don’t even compete no more. … That’s the great thing about my career. I feel honored.”

The weird thing is that throughout it all, Floyd Mayweather never called Dana White.

And on one point at least, Mayweather wasn’t first. First guy to declare himself the biggest figure in MMA and in boxing was Conor.

https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/731518771282612226

“>May 14, 2016