The greatest boxer of his generation, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., has maintained a uniformly civil attitude towards mixed martial arts and the UFC. It has not always been returned, with former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey regularly trash talking him. When Rousey lost her belt, Conor McGregor seamlessly maintained the insults.
This round began when Mayweather said there is racism in sports, and cited the differing media treatment of Ronda Rousey vs. Laila Ali, and Conor McGregor vs. himself. Mayweather’s remarks were measured and were explicitly pointed at the media, not the MMA fighters.
“(I heard Conor McGregor) talk(s) a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I’m cocky and arrogant,” said Mayweather. “So biased! Like I said before, all I’m saying is this, I ain’t racist at all, but I’m telling you racism still exists.”
McGregor responded by alluding to murder, saying “There’s people buried in the desert for less than that.”
“Floyd Mayweather, don’t ever bring race into my success again,” said McGregor. “I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood.
In my family’s long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name ‘McGregor’ was punishable by death. Do not ever put me in a bracket like this again. If you want we can organise a fight no problem. I will give you a fair 80/20 split purse in my favour seen as your last fight bombed at every area of revenue.”
In an interview with FightHype, Mayweather maintained his cordial demeanor, repeated his beliefs about racism, and referenced an apparently soured relationship with UFC president Dana White.
“Once again, I never said that the guy … Conor McGregor … is that his name?” said Mayweather, as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMAFighting. “I never said Conor McGregor was… I never had anything against caucasians, white Americans or white people, period. Or Irish. All I said was this, in this world, racism still exists, but I’m not racist. That’s all I said.
“If he got offended? That’s life. Sometimes people will get offended by certain things people say. Just me? I have tough skin. I’m built for anything.”
When Mayweather was asked about the trash talk between himself and UFC fighters, he responded by discussing UFC president Dana White.
“This is something that’s very interesting,” said FMJ. “Like I’ve said before. We can forgive but sometimes we never forget. When no one knew who Dana White was, Dana White used to run around with me, hang out with me and I treated him just like anyone else in my camp.
“If you watch the beginning of my fights I had a patch on my trunk which was a Bullenbeisser dog. I wore the Bullenbeisser patch for Dana White, a little square guy. At that particular time I think the guy had a Honda, but I didn’t judge him. If you were my friend I love you unconditionally. I like you the same way I like everyone else that’s around me.”
“Now all of a sudden a guy gets put in a position, he shaves his head bald and acts like he’s tough and rugged. That’s not the Dana White I know. I knew Dana White as a good guy, good square guy. If I had to say so, he was a guy who went to college and didn’t know anything about mixed martial arts or boxing.
“He used to be around me and my uncle Jeff and I treated the guy great. I think he’s the president of the MMA, the UFC. That’s a great thing.”
