As the crossover megabout between boxing’s pound-for-pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. And UFC superstar “The Notorious” Conor McGregor inches closer to fruition, it’s starting to look more and more like we actually have a fight on our hands.
The UFC lightweight champion recently told media in a scrum that the fight was indeed ‘very close’. Both men have had training footage surface and things appear to be getting serious. Of course, since Mayweather has not had any experience whatsoever with MMA fighters, a wise move on his part would be to enlist the aid of some UFC fighters to help him prepare.
It seems, ranked UFC lightweight Kevin Lee is the fighter who got the call. In an interview with Helen Yee of Eyes on the Game, Lee said that he was asked to partake in Mayweather’s camp for McGregor.
Floyd Mayweather is really preparing for a crossover bout with Conor McGregor
“That fight with Floyd [Mayweather], it’s going to happen. Floyd’s management reached out to me a little while ago and asked me to be a part of the camp. So I’m excited to do that, I could use a couple bucks in my pocket, that’s for sure,” said Lee.
Lee even went on as far as saying that McGregor is in a no-lose situation, due to the amount of money he could potentially make. Lee said that McGregor was ‘smart’ to take the fight. Because even if the Irishman loses, the people would have already expected it. A loss would do no damage to his stock.
If McGregor were to win however, the ripples would be massive.
“It’s a win-win situation for him. If he loses — which he’s going to lose, he don’t stand a chance in the fight. He knows it going in, he’s just there for the cash grab and then he’ll come back and fight (Nate) Diaz. Or he’ll bump up and fight Tyron (Woodley), before he jumps down and messes with us real killers at 155. He ain’t stupid,” Lee added.
Lee believes it’s a great fight for MMA but potentially catastrophic for boxing.
“It’s great for MMA. It’s a win-win for everybody, all things considered. As long as the UFC gets their cut. I think is the only thing holding them back is to negotiate the UFC’s number, because I’m pretty sure the UFC’s going to want a third.
“But it’s great for MMA, because it has no downside. It’s horrible for boxing, I ain’t gonna lie. And they’re paying me, so I better, but it’s horrible for boxing. I think it’s going to kill the sport of boxing, but the money is too large to pass up.”
That being said, Lee also believes Mayweather would not be able to knock McGregor out. The UFC lightweight champion is just too big, Lee feels.
“Floyd isn’t going to knock out Conor. Conor’s a much bigger man. I expect Conor to come out and try to sling Floyd around a little bit in the clinch, try to wear him down. If things get too hectic about that seventh, eighth round, he might start. I don’t know, he might start to rough him up with some elbows. I’m pretty sure Floyd’s going to have us prepare him for that — being able to throw him around, and maybe even kick him a little bit. You never know.”
Is the Mayweather-McGregor fight getting close? With the recent developments, it would certainly seem so.
