By Bryanna Fissori
What happens when you put to marketing geniuses in the same mass media headline? The crowd goes wild. And both Dana White (UFC President) and Floyd Mayweather Jr sure know how to work a crowd.
With the statement “Talks about a UFC deal with Floyd are real,” fans and fighters are left to fill in the blanks with assumptions and theories. The guessing game can be entertaining. Both White and Mayweather are known to choose their words carefully to promote the most amount of controversy possible.
“We’re talking to Floyd about doing a UFC deal,” White said in an interview with 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 sh*t ends up happening. We’re interested in doing something with Floyd. Everything is a realistic possibility. Mayweather vs. McGregor f*cking happened. Anything is possible.”
Mayweather has rebutted the statement from White, asserting that he will not be entering the Octagon, but if he wanted to he could. And he could make a billion dollars doing it. He is not interested in competing in boxing or MMA.
“Exactly what I said is this: If I could make over a billion dollars before, I could do it again,” Mayweather said in an interview with FightHype. “If I chose to get in the UFC and fight three fights or fight four fights and then fight Conor McGregor, I could make a billion dollars. Which I can. I could do it in three fights or even four fights — I could make a billion dollars. If I choose to get in the Octagon and fight.”
“We just don’t know what the future holds for Floyd Mayweather,” Mayweather said. “And I don’t look forward to getting back in a boxing ring, that’s what I don’t look forward to. I’m just saying I could — I’m not doing it — but I’m saying what I could do to make a billion dollars quick, if I wanted to do that. That’s what I was saying. I never said I was gonna fight in the UFC. I didn’t say that. I said if I wanted to and what I could. Could and would do is different things. I’m not gonna do it, though.”
Keeping in line with the rest of the speculations, could it be that Mayweather is just staying ready in case April 15th crushes his empire with taxes? Could this be his backup plan if the money from his bout with Conor McGregor doesn’t sufficiently fund his retirement account?
Another consideration is that Mayweather, like Dana White, is a professional promoter and a successful one at that. White has already confirmed that the UFC will be hosting boxing events under the name “Zuffa Boxing.” It may be a lot for White to handle both the Octagon and the ring. Could Floyd be joining the payroll as a promoter rather than a competitor?
White and Mayweather are two very powerful men in the combat sports industry. White stated in an interview last month, that he would be speaking to a number of influencers in the boxing community as Zuffa Boxing comes to fruition. For now fighters and fans will continue to speculate as we wait to see where the pieces fit together.