The UFC returns from a long layoff for Mayweather McGregor promotion to put on a fight card that… well that just kinda sucks. Volkov vs. Struve should be interesting, it’ll be good to see Siyar Bahadurzada back in action, Mairbek Taisumov too. But the long and short of it is, UFC Rotterdam just isn’t very good. Injuries took their toll and the batch of new talent brought in for the card looks more unready than anything.
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Despite a myriad of technical problems delivering PPV streams for Conor McGregor’s boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., it sounds like the contest is on track to become the largest selling PPV worldwide in history. During the recording of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, the UFC president let slip some figures for the boxing spectacle’s buyrate.
As reported by Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting, those would almost certainly be worldwide numbers, if accurate. And it could mean that, as far as the US market is concerned, the PPV may still have under-performed the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight in 2015 – which reportedly did 4.6 million buys in North America, racking up 5.5 million worldwide. But, it would make Mayweather vs. McGregor the most streamed iPPV of all time.
The key difference between North American and worldwide numbers is all down to money in the fighters’ pockets. The North American PPV sold for $99, but as low as $20-30 in other parts of the world (and even on free TV).
Either way, even after the revenue split between broadcasters and promoters (from which the fighters will get their share), Mayweather and McGregor both stand to make a pile of money off the event’s seemingly massive sales success.
When Floyd Mayweather Jr. first stepped out of the shadows to make his walk to the ring against Conor McGregor in the main event of their massive PPV spectacle, fans were greeted by an unexpected sight. While no stranger to flashy entrances or even the occasional costume, few expected to see ‘Money’ walk to the ring with a ski-mask over his face.
The jokes ran wild on social media, of course. Was he hiding from the IRS, had he joined ANTIFA, was he preparing for a lucha libre match? Maybe he’d just escaped from someone’s sex dungeon? But, the truth is apparently no more serious, as longtime boxing coach Angelo Reyes explained for the Fight Society podcast (transcript via MMA Weekly).
“To us in the boxing culture, we were kind of laughing about it because it’s Floyd Mayweather’s ode to the movie ‘Dead Presidents.’ Where he put the ski mask on because it’s a bank robbery,” Reyes explained. “Basically he was saying it was a heist. Like Conor actually believed he could beat Floyd Mayweather and all that happened was he got fooled into the biggest pay-per-view, the biggest payday opportunity of all time.
“That’s why he put on the ski mask, which I thought was pretty awesome.”
Of course that asks the question, if Conor McGregor stands to make as much as $100 million for his fight with Mayweather, was it the Irishman who got robbed, or just the fans who showed up to watch him get the win?
For people who actually saw the fight, the general opinion seems to be that it was an entertaining, enjoyable spectacle. Much more so than the Pacquiao bout that came with the same price tag. The seemingly large number of people who paid for the bout and couldn’t see it due to various technical issues may have a different opinion, however.
One of the more difficult to parse narratives of Conor McGregor’s bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the scoring of the early rounds, and what they told fans about McGregor’s boxing ability. Two judges ringside only gave McGregor the first round, despite out-landing Mayweather in rounds one, two, and three.
And while their scores seem to suggest an obvious favoritism – something boxing scorecards have long been known for – it still leaves the question: Did McGregor so much win the early portions of his fight with Mayweather, as Mayweather let him have success? And by having success, out-pace his gas tank while giving Mayweather a look at all his tools in the ring.
For one notable boxing-to-MMA crossover, that narrative doesn’t quite stand up. Holly Holm – herself a former champion boxer and former UFC bantamweight champion – made a recent appearance on the MMA Hour to give her thoughts on McGregor’s performance.
“I felt like McGregor was going to be able to land some shots on Mayweather at first,” Holm said, when asked about the fight, “which he did. I gave him, easily, the first three rounds. Arguably the fourth, maybe eighth. The beginning of the fight, he… With that being said, Mayweather lets people kinda punch a little bit, has more of a slower start and paces himself. So, it didn’t surprise me that Mayweather was kinda letting McGregor do his thing. But, I also think at the same time, McGregor was frustrating Mayweather. It’s been a long time since someone’s frustrated Mayweather in there. Just by his different style.
“And I know that, being a lefty, McGregor was kinda throwing a couple of those back-hand uppercuts, because Mayweather leans to the right. He always kinda fights like that in his defensive style. I felt like he did some good things. I’m proud of both of them. I think it was a good fight. I think McGregor showed people, I think he really surprised a lot of people. And Mayweather, now he’s at 50-0. You can’t really… I think a lot of people were happy to watch the fight, but some people were thinking it was just this big joke. I think that just showed that it’s martial arts, whether it’s boxing or MMA. It showed that it’s just two people passionate about fighting, about martial arts. They were able to bring their best to the table. Gosh, that’s a big deal to be able to take on Mayweather and make it a fight. I thought it was entertaining to watch.”
When asked specifically about whether McGregor deserved full credit for his early success, Holm was fairly emphatic in her belief that his work deserved attention over Mayweather’s lack of it.
“I give Conor the credit in those rounds,” Holm said. “I think that Mayweather is more of a slow starter, and he’s kind of a master of… Saying before the fight, the later it goes, the more it’s going to be in Mayweather’s favor, because he does take it in the later rounds. He’s really good at pacing that. Yeah, I think he was not wanting to punch himself out in the first few rounds, Mayweather. But, I definitely think that it’s not like he wanted to let McGregor land on him. You can’t say that Mayweather ‘let him’ do that. That’s just… Any fighter, especially a fighter that’s 49-0, will not just get in the ring and say, ‘I’m going to let this person hit me.’
“Maybe he wasn’t as aggressive in the first few rounds, I don’t think he ever is really the aggressor in the first few rounds. However, he still moves and makes use of defense. He doesn’t let people land shots on him. McGregor was landing shots on him. He was landing some uppercuts from the left side, he was landing some jabs, he was landing some straight lefts. He was hitting some angles. He definitely… There’s no way that was McGregor [sic], just playing around with him. Like I said, no fighter, especially one as gifted as he is, gets in there with that kind of mindset.”
As to whether McGregor could have possibly paced himself a little better and maybe had a better fight overall? The jury may still be out on that one.
“I think he could have done better, but I think that’s just what comes with 49 fights, twelve-round fights. Mayweather has that experience. So, it’s kind of hard to know what that is going to feel like, that twelve 3-minute rounds, when you’ve never done it before. To have people look at it a little differently, the five 5-minute rounds in MMA is 25 minutes. Well, a boxing fight is 36 minutes. That’s eleven minutes more. Three 5-minute rounds if fifteen minutes, so basically – to do a twelve-round boxing fight – that’s doing a title fight, five 5-minute rounds… It’s almost like a title fight and a regular 3-round fight. It’s only four minutes shy of that. So, it is longer when you think about that. People are “Oh 25 minutes, 36 minutes.” No, that’s only four minutes shy of doing a title fight and a 3-round fight in MMA.”
Holm also gave her thoughts on the stoppage, who she was rooting for (no one in particular), and the potential booking of a fight with Cris Cyborg, so give the whole interview a listen.
When all the dust settles and the checks clear, Conor McGregor very likely made a whole heap of money for his first foray into boxing. Even before the PPV revenue split, any merchandise sales, or other additional sources of income, McGregor will receive a $30 million fight purse, by far the largest of his career. At least before the UFC gets their cut.
And while he didn’t walk away with a win, or leave any particular impression that he could compete with boxing’s very best, the potential is there for a return to the ring. Assuming Mayweather sticks to his retirment plans, McGregor may end up standing alone as combat sport’s current top PPV draw. That doesn’t mean he should automatically be looking for his next boxing match, however.
Or at least that’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s take on things, as he told FightHype.com shortly after his bout with the UFC lightweight champion.
“No,” Mayweather responded when asked if McGregor should stay in boxing. “Because he’s going to be in demand for all these heavy paydays in the UFC.”
But although MMA is clearly the sport where McGregor is most likely to put on his best performances, it remains to be seen if the “heavy paydays” await him there. McGregor’s last publicly reported fight purse was just $3 million at UFC 202. And while his earnings from his bout with Eddie Alvarez may have ended up being higher, it’s still a far cry from the money he made for this fight.
In either sport, right now, McGregor seems likely to be the A-side draw. To chase those paydays in the UFC, he may very well have to make use of the threat to prolong his boxing career.
Maybe this is just one of those ‘MMA angles’ that everyone was talking about.
Conor McGregor’s boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. wasn’t half as crazy as it could have been. McGregor threw some hammerfists, Mayweather turned and gave his back to McGregor a lot more than he likely needed to, there was the – somewhat McGregor-created – controversy around whether the stoppage was early. But, for the most part, it was a pretty reasonable boxing match between a relative novice and a crafty veteran.
One moment, however, is sparking a little extra controversy – at least in the mind of Fox Sports 1 personality Skip Bayless. The die-hard Conor McGregor supporter took to Facebook after the bout with a video rant, in part targeted at Robert Byrd’s decision to pause the fight for an apparent low blow in the 9th Round (via Zombie Prophet).
The break in action lasted about 20 seconds, and was quickly followed by Mayweather marching McGregor down, hands high, as the Irishman spent much of the last of his energy reserves. McGregor was TKO’d in the 10th, largely due to his exhaustion and the number of unanswered shots he was eating. But, if not for Byrd’s intervention, Bayless seems confident things could have gone differently (transcript via MMA Mania).
“The whole thing flipped and turned in round number nine…” said Bayless. “Floyd Mayweather was in trouble in this fight. But, the turning point to me, and I would like to see the video of this came in round nine.” … “Then in nine, he comes out aggressive and he stunned Floyd. He hit him with a hard left, rocked him and buckled him and Floyd’s in trouble in the corner and when Conor goes in for the ‘kill,’ it happened so fast I need to see a replay, but he had him and Robert Byrd pulls him away.”
“In that moment, I thought that’s it,” Bayless continued. “Again, I’m just going off my instinct, my gut and Conor had him on the ropes. He was then backed off to the middle of the ring and he had spent himself on that salvo. Eight took a lot out of McGregor.”
“He took a shot to end it early in round nine and he got pulled off. I swear Robert Byrd saved the fight. He saved it. Byrd, longtime referee in Las Vegas, highly respected. but he gave Floyd a big break he didn’t deserve.”
Eventually, by the CompuBox stats, Mayweather landed 42 of 68 punches thrown that round, 39 of them power shots. By comparison, McGregor landed 10 of 36, with 8 of those being significant strikes.
For as long as it stays online, you can see the entirety of the last two rounds in the video below, starting with the possible low blow early in round 9.
Poll
Was it a low blow?
This poll is closed
23%
It’s clearly low. Nothing to see here.
(787 votes)
41%
No, it was a clean shot… Oh man, am I agreeing with Skip?
There were several story lines swirling about Conor McGregor’s boxing vs. MMA superfight on August 26th with Floyd Mayweather Jr., beyond the fight itself. Mayweather made it known that father time was creeping up on him. The UFC had to navigate the interesting position of becoming a boxing promoter and of finding a way to get part of McGregor’s fight purse. The May-Mac World Tour was it’s own series of PR flubs and spectacles.
But one narrative stole the show.
Conor McGregor’s training camp for his first pro boxing bout became the flashpoint of controversy in the buildup. Most notably, his decision to bring in former WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi. Throughout his camp, McGregor’s team used photos to tease his success over sparring partners in the ring. Against Malignaggi, that became highlight clips of the UFC lightweight champion seemingly dropping the retired boxer, along with landing several more hard shots. Those videos ended up part of a betting push that saw McGregor fall as low as +230 against Mayweather on some books. They also left a very irate Malignaggi in their wake.
The former champion was ringside for the Mayweather fight – as part of the Showtime Sports commentary team – and gave his thoughts on McGregor’s performance to iFL TV after the event.
“I didn’t think he comported himself badly,” Malginaggi said, when asked what he thought of the fight. “Conor always gives you a bit of a different dimension, when you first see him it is a little bit of a weird look. I remember the first time I sparred him, I didn’t get off a lot of punches, and I was telling myself, ‘Eh, it’s probably because I’m out of shape,’ you know? That first time, the time I did eight rounds. But I noticed Floyd didn’t get off a lot of punches either those first few rounds either. So, maybe you gotta give Conor a little bit of credit, maybe there’s a little bit of confusion.
“But, the problem with Conor is – obviously it’s not a ‘problem’ – is he just hasn’t been boxing for a long time. He doesn’t have a lot of dimensions to him. So, once you do figure it out, that’s pretty much all he’s got. He doesn’t have any other dimensions to go to, where, ‘Okay now this guy figured this out, I’m gonna go to something else.’ It took Floyd a couple rounds – two, maybe three. But, once he figured it out, Conor didn’t know what else to do. Once the fight started turning around, that’s where it went. But, those early rounds, when you first see the guy, it does throw you off a little bit. If he could add dimensions to that, maybe he could be effective in his own little, weird, strange way.
“Obviously now people know that I’m not a hater, I’m not lying,” Malignaggi continued. “The guy can’t punch. I mean, you saw, he only throws arm punches. He doesn’t know how to translate his weight on his shots in boxing. I mean, there was nothing on those shots if you didn’t notice. I was ringside, there was literally nothing on those shots. But, his little points, his little movements – sharp, awkward little movements – it won him a couple rounds. You gotta give credit where credit is due.”
And while Malignaggi gave what credit he could muster, it sounds like he didn’t see anything in the fight that would stop himself from stepping in the ring with McGregor, if given the chance.
“Fuck yeah, why not?” Malginaggi said, when asked if he’d box McGregor. “That’s the easiest money I can make. Are you kidding me? He’s not very likable. I mean, listen, everything I said about him came true tonight. You can’t edit this video. You can’t edit this fight. Everything I said came true tonight. I said, early on he’s going to get through it and he can give you confusing looks early on. Then, when you start breaking him down, he’s not the gutsiest guy. What’s he do? He stops punching back, he goes into pockets of action where he doesn’t throw back at all. He starts throwing less and less, he doesn’t want to fight you when he’s tired. And then finally, at the end, he basically let himself get stopped.
“He started stumbling around like he was hurt, all over the place. He wasn’t that hurt. He was hurt, but he wasn’t that hurt. So, stop stumbling around, bro. What are you stumbling around for? He was looking for a way out of the fight at a certain point. He said after the fight that they should have let him finish the round, they should have let him finish… You cannot go a minute straight without punching and be assaulted for that whole minute straight and expect the ref to not stop the fight. He said, ‘Oh I should have been allowed to go out on my back.’ Buddy, they’ll let you go out on your back. Throw a punch or two and the referee won’t stop it.
“And believe me, you would have went out on your back,” Malignaggi continued. “If he threw one or two punches in the last minute, Robert Byrd wouldn’t have stopped the fight. And trust me, he would have went out on his back. So, you didn’t want to go out on your back. The thing about boxing is, you can’t lie, you can’t edit the video. It’s on TV, Cuz. You can edit the sparring, you can’t edit the video. If you threw one – maybe two, three – punches in that final minute, just to show Robert Byrd you’re there, he would have let you go out on your back, and you would have went out on your back. You chose not to go out on your back by not punching back.”
A fight with Malginaggi is perhaps the most sensible bout in boxing that McGregor could take, if he decides to keep his career in the ring going. As another smaller, retired opponent – and one not known for his punching power – it would likely be a relatively safer fight for the Irishman. And something he’s already got some heat built up for selling pay-per-views.
However, Malignaggi himself has never been any kind of PPV star in the past. And it stands to wonder just how worthwhile it would be for McGregor to carry a bout with the ‘Magic Man’ (one he absolutely could lose), when he could be carrying cards in the UFC, where his success is already well established. More likely, the threat of a bout with Malignaggi becomes a key bargaining chip for McGregor when he returns to the table to renegotiate his UFC contract in the near future.
Shortly after defeating Holly Holm for the UFC women’s featherweight title back in February – and well before deciding to give up her claim to the belt – Germaine de Randamie warned fans that she might be on the sidelines for a while. She had brought a lingering hand injury into the Holm bout, one that she felt may require surgery to be repaired.
Only, she didn’t end up getting surgery and – in the context of her one-fight-a-year career – she didn’t end up spending that much time sitting out. After refusing to defend her belt against Cris Cyborg, and returning to bantamweight once the UFC stripped her, De Randamie booked a fight with Marion Reneau at UFC Rotterdam, this Saturday, September 2nd.
It turns out that maybe that wasn’t the best idea. De Randamie has now been forced off the card due to her ongoing hand problems, according to UFC officials. The promotion is still searching for a replacement opponent for Reneau, although with only a week until fight night, it seems likely that the bout will end up being scrapped altogether.
UFC Rotterdam starts at 3pm EST/12 Pacific and airs entirely on Fight Pass. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates.
Mayweather vs. McGregor isn’t the only bit of fighting going on this weekend. Bellator returns as well, off their own month long hiatus from any kind of notable event with a deep card for hardcore fans. While Andrey Koreshkov vs. Chidi Njokuani and Brennan Ward vs. Fernando Gonzalez don’t exactly make the biggest main/co-main billing, the 18-fight card also features AJ McKee Jr., Georgi Karakhanyan, Sinead Kavanagh, Philipe Lins vs. Vadim Nemkov, and a host of other somewhat notable MMA talents. Just what fans suffering from an excess of boxing vs. MMA talk need.
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Here’s a look at the Bellator 182 fight card as it stands now:
SPIKE TV CARD Andrey Koreshkov vs. Chidi Njokuani Brennan Ward vs. Fernando Gonzalez A.J. McKee Jr. vs. Blair Tugman Bruna Ellen vs. Veta Arteaga
There’s no UFC this week, so we don’t exactly have a Vivisection prepared, but it’s also Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight week. We couldn’t just do nothing. What we have instead is a sort of hybrid MMA Depressed-us/Vivi show. Some analysis along with watching a bunch of boxer vs. MMA fighter matchups… in MMA that is.
This week we’re watching KJ Noons vs. Ryan Couture, Mark Hunt vs. Yosuke Nishijima, Butterbean vs. Rob Broughton, and Randy Couture vs. James Toney. To find the Noons/Couture fight on Fight Pass, search for Tarec Saffiedine, and scroll to the Strikeforce: Saffiedine vs. Marquardt event video. The fight starts around 1:22:42 left in the video (it counts down).
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