The likelihood seems to be growing by the day that Conor McGregor will go up against Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match.
A report has surfaced of a hold being put on the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the fight to occur June 10. Sporting News has reached out to both camps but has received no comment at this time of writing.
If the mega-fight does take place, how would it play out? Joe Rogan has an idea.
On the Fight Companion on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast during Saturday's UFC Fight Night: Fortaleza, the longtime UFC analyst declared that the battle between the UFC lightweight champion and the boxing great would go down in history.
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“It’s the biggest fight ever," Rogan said. "Because it brings in two worlds. It brings in the UFC world and this one guy who’s unquestionably the biggest star in the UFC — unquestionably, by a long shot — and then you bring in a guy who has been one of the biggest money makers in the history of boxing, the only guy to go 49-0 other than Rocky Marciano. He’s right there and he’d love to break Rocky Marciano’s record.”
There's no doubt Rogan is correct in his assertion. You would have the two biggest draws in the history of their respective sports. Add in that Mayweather and McGregor know how to sell a fight, especially a once-in-a-lifetime event, and history would be made. If the fight happens, McGregor has been listed as a 25-1 underdog. It doesn't mean the hard-hitting slugger from Ireland doesn't have a shot at dethroning Mayweather.
“When people want to do things like break someone’s record, and you want to do it so bad that you take on a guy that’s never had a boxing match before, and then that guy starches you [laughs]," Rogan said. "I mean, it’s not likely, but if he did it.
“There’s something about [Conor McGregor]. I’m telling you, there’s something about that dude. He’s got something going on. He’s got a little something extra special but he would need everything to line up.
“Mayweather would have to dismiss him as a threat. He’d have to not train hard enough, he’d have to not seriously consider the possibility that Conor connects on him and knocks him out. And then Conor would have to do some roughhousing. He’d have to hold him in the clinch. He’d have to hold him and hit him. He’d have to try and get off as many shots and bully him around and wear him out. It’s a possibility. He’s a much bigger man. He’s a much bigger man. If you compare the two of them frame-wise, if they ever do do it, and they’re standing right at each other, looking down at each other doing eye-to-eye, you’re gonna go ‘oh, s—t.’ [Conor]’s a big f—k. He can make that 145-pound cut when he’s on death’s door, but Mayweather makes it easy.”
Some of the rhetoric does come off as Rogan defending a UFC guy. Mayweather takes every opponent seriously regardless of skill level. It's all about history for the pound-for-pound great. Win, run your record to 50-0 and regain the throne of the biggest attraction in combat sports from McGregor.
But the fight isn't signed, and until it is all we can do is dream.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, "The Fight Club Chicago," and subscribe on iTunes. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
