Dana White Confirms Ongoing Talks to Bring Floyd Mayweather to the UFC
Floyd Mayweather fighting in the UFC may actually happen.
UFC president Dana White has now confirmed that he’s spoken to Mayweather’s camp about a possible deal that would see the 50-0 boxer make a transition into mixed martial arts.
“We’re talking to Floyd about doing a UFC deal,” White said when speaking ESPN. “It’s real. He was talking about [boxing] Conor McGregor. Was that real? Have you heard Floyd talk about many things that aren’t real? He usually tips his hand when he’s in the media, and then that s–t ends up happening.
“We’re interested in doing something with Floyd. Everything is a realistic possibility. Mayweather vs. McGregor f—ing happened. Anything is possible.”
Mayweather had stated recently in a social media post that he has spoken to the UFC about a possible move into MMA that could earn him a billion dollars over the course of a few fights inside the Octagon.
“I’m Money May. They just called me not too long ago and asked me to come back. I can come right back to the UFC. If I want, I can go, I can come right back to the UFC, I can go fight in the Octagon. I can do a three or four fight deal in the Octagon and make a billion dollars,” Mayweather said in the video.
At the time, Mayweather’s comments were mostly laughed off as the retired boxer once again touting his massive fortune and how he could add even more money by returning to fight again in a sport like MMA.
Now it appears White is deadly serious about reaching a deal with the 40-year old boxer and bringing him into the UFC for a fight.
“There was no way I thought that fight was going to happen, but when you sit down with a smart guy like [Mayweather adviser] Al Haymon, a very intelligent guy, anything is possible,” White said. “And Floyd, as much as he does the money thing and this and that, Floyd was actually very easy to work with. I was impressed.”
Considering Mayweather’s fight against UFC champion Conor McGregor did 4.3 million pay-per-view buys back in August — the second biggest event of all time — it’s tough to imagine the MMA promotion wouldn’t try to push for a rematch under the MMA rule set if they actually signed the boxer.
Of course as much as Mayweather was the favorite over McGregor in a boxing match, he would likely be an even bigger underdog against almost anybody in the UFC including the 29-year old Irishman, who would be champing at the bit for a rematch if this deal actually gets done.
