So that just happened, and now we can put this whole circus behind us. Undefeated boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. just knocked out Conor McGregor in the 10th round of their junior middleweight showdown late Saturday evening, August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In what was dubbed “The Money Fight”, both fighters are expected to take home career highs in pay. There will be so many reactions coming from different people everywhere, but some will hold more weight than others. One man who isn’t shy about giving his opinion on matters is former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
Aldo lost his title to McGregor in UFC 194 in 2015, getting knocked out in 13 seconds by the Irishman. Since then, Aldo has had a grudge towards McGregor and has been chasing a rematch.
Jose Aldo Reacts to Conor McGregor’s Loss on Twitter
In the end, Mayweather gave McGregor his props and said he was impressed by the Irishman’s effort. It was all respect after the fight, as the two fighters shared hugs at the center of the ring.
“He’s a tough competitor. I think we gave the fans what they wanted to see,” Mayweather said. “Our game plan was to take our time, let him shoot all his heavy shots early and then take him out at the end down the stretch.
“We know in MMA, he fights for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, he started to slow down. I guaranteed to everybody that this wouldn’t go the distance.”
After the fight, Mayweather announced his retirement officially saying this was his very last bout. Mayweather will earn at least $100-million for this fight, with McGregor taking home $30-million guaranteed. However, after all the pay-per-view upside and endorsement, Mayweather is projected to bag nearly $300-million when it’s all said and done. McGregor on the other hand is set to take home close to over $100-million.
Close in the early rounds
After McGregor took the first two rounds, Mayweather landed a couple of clean shots in the third but it remained clear that McGregor was doing better than advertised. McGregor arguably took a few more rounds after and heading into the 9th round, it was even on a lot of unofficial scorecards.
Remember, people predicted that McGregor wouldn’t even be able to win a single round. The fact that McGregor was able to do so well against boxing’s best is a win in and of itself.
McGregor gave his take on how the fight went in his post-fight interview.
“[Mayweather’s] not that fast, he’s not that powerful, but boy is he composed in there,” said McGregor, who landed 111 of 430 punches (26%) compared to 170 of 320 punches for Mayweather (53%).
In the end, given the way the bout ended, and that it was an exciting contest, this is a huge win for both boxing and Mixed Martial Arts. The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight of 2015, which the entire boxing world waited for years, was a lot more uneventful and less tense. McGregor gave a good account of himself and represented MMA pretty well — a sport which includes Aldo himself, so hats off to him.
