In this file photo, Floyd Mayweather Jr. poses on the scale during a weigh-in for a fight against Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas. AP
UFC President Dana White dropped a bombshell revelation on Wednesday, claiming that he was having “real” talks with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. about possibly fighting inside the octagon.
The 40-year-old slugger, however, denied White’s claims and said that people have “misconstrued” his earlier comments about mixed martial arts.
“People said, ‘Floyd said, Oh, he’ll be fighting in the UFC for a billion dollars’ – that’s not what I said,” Mayweather explained in an interview with FightHype.com. “What I said was this: I made a billion dollars. If I made a billion dollars before, I’ll do it again. If I choose to get in the UFC and fight for the UFC, or fight three fights or 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.”
After cashing in over a hundred million dollars in his retirement bout against UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor last August—notching a 50-0 pro career record in the process—fight fans marveled at the idea of a rematch under MMA rules.
“If I choose to get in the octagon and fight – fight three fights, three or four fights, and then fight Conor McGregor in the octagon. We just don’t know what the future holds for Floyd Mayweather, and I don’t look forward to getting back in the boxing ring,” he said.
“That’s what I don’t look forward to doing. So, I’m just saying, I could (make a billion in the UFC). I’m not doing it. But I’m saying, what I could do is make a billion dollars quick if I wanted to do that. That’s what I was saying.”
McGregor, meanwhile, has noted publicly several times that he wants a rematch against Mayweather but under the UFC banner.
Pundits, however, doubt the cunning Mayweather will risk his unblemished fighting record, especially out of the comforts of the boxing ring.
“I never said I was going to fight in the UFC,” Mayweather said. “I didn’t say that. I just said if I wanted to and what I could do. ‘Would’ and ‘could’ do isn’t the same thing. I’m not going to do it, though.” Khristian Ibarrola /ra
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