Dana White Reveals New Details About Upcoming Meeting with Floyd Mayweather’s Team
UFC president Dana White will sit down with Floyd Mayweather’s team on Thursday but it doesn’t sound like they’ll be chatting about his transition into mixed martial arts.
White fueled rumors about Mayweather potentially crossing over to fight in the UFC last week when he said that he had held discussions with the recently retired boxer about making an attempt at a mixed martial arts career.
Mayweather quickly shot that down later in the same day but White has now revealed that he’s preparing for a meeting with his team, which likely includes longtime advisor Al Haymon as well as Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe.
As much as White says anything is possible when speaking about this meeting with Mayweather and his future in fighting, it certainly appears that the two sides are more interested in talking boxing rather than the UFC.
“I have a meeting with those guys. I haven’t kept it a secret that I’m looking at boxing, I’m looking at getting into boxing in 2018. I’m pretty much meeting with everybody in the business including those guys. We’ll see what happens,” White said when speaking to ESPN.
“I’m open to anything. I’m just out talking to everybody right now, seeing what’s going on, what’s out there, what’s available, what people’s interests are. I’m going to figure out in the next couple of months how I’m going to get involved and what I’m going to do. I don’t know at what capacity. I’m just checking everything out right now and I’m meeting with everybody.”
In previous interviews, White wasn’t willing to divulge much information about the meeting with Mayweather’s team but he seems to be discussing the possibility of working together on his new boxing venture that he hopes to launch in 2018.
After helping to promote the mega-fight between Mayweather and Conor McGregor over the summer, White seemed very interested in adding a boxing promotion under the UFC umbrella next year.
Now that appears to be a certainty for 2018 with White taking meetings with several boxing promoters in the coming days.
“If I get into boxing, I would look to put on the biggest and the best fights possible and hopefully make some matchups that people want to see, whether it includes Mayweather or whoever, White said.
For now, White is just preparing to sit down with Mayweather’s team to discuss any number of possibilities to work together in the future. Whether that means a return to action for Mayweather remains to be seen.
