https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpYudSMXCpA
By Allan Fox: UFC president Dana White says his fighter Conor McGregor should get 50-50 split of the revenue for his proposed mega-fight against boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. White sees the 29-year-old McGregor as a big enough name for him to get 50 percent of the loot for the Mayweather fight. That’s not going to fly with Mayweather, who feels he’s the bigger name in this fight.
Mayweather has a good argument that he’s the bigger start, as he has the PPV record for most buys with his big PPV fight against Manny Pacquiao in 2015. That fight pulled in 4.6 million buys and allowed Mayweather to walk away with over $200 million. For Mayweather to get the same kind of money against McGregor, he’ll need a number of things to happen starting with him getting the bigger percentage split. It doesn’t look like White and McGregor are interested in anything less than a 50-50 deal.
“We haven’t even talked percentages yet,” White said via the mirror.co.uk. “Floyd can think whatever. But the machine that the UFC has and Conor McGregor alone is a machine by himself. I think that 50-50 is pretty fair.”
It remains to be seen if White is just bluffing by saying he wants a 50-50 deal for White. That’s a lot of money for a guy that has never boxed before inside a boxing ring for a professional fight. Moreover, McGregor has only been a star in the UFC for a short period of time. McGregor has only been involved in 5 PPV fights total during his career in the UFC in the 2 years since he’s been involved in pay-per-view since 2015.
These are McGregor’s past UFC pay-per-view fights:
– Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor – UFC 189 on July 11, 2015. Buy rate: 825,000
– Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor – UFC 194 on December 12, 2015. Buy Rate: 1,200,000
– Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz – UFC 196 on March 5, 2016. Buy rate: 1,500,000
– Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor – UFC 202 on August 20, 2016. Buy rate: 1,650,000
– Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor – UFC 205 on November 12, 2016. Buy rate: 1,300,000
As good as these PPV totals are for McGregor, they’re probably not enough for him to get a 50-50 percentage split for a fight with Mayweather. McGregor is going to need to give in and let Mayweather get the lion’s share of the money for the fight. Whether that’s a 60-40 or 55-45 deal is the important question. Mayweather wants to make at least $100 million for the McGregor fight. For Mayweather to get that kind of money, he’s probably going to need to get a 60-40 split.
Mayweather may also need to PPV prices for the McGregor fight to be in the $100 to $110 range per household for the fight to pull in the kind of money that he’s hoping to get. I think there’s going to be a lot of boxing fans that will not want to see Mayweather fight a UFC guy, because it doesn’t seem like a serious fight. When you get fighters wanting to battle someone from a different sport like UFC, it makes it difficult for the fight to be taken seriously by some boxing fans.
Mayweather might as well be fighting golfer Tiger Woods or NFL quarterback Tom Brady. McGregor has about as much chance as either of them in beating Mayweather. The recent video of McGregor working out shows a fighter that is very unskilled with poor habits. McGregor is very slow, and he leaves himself wide open for shots the way he pulls back on his punches to admire his work. McGregor also is very slow in changes fighting stances from right to left. He would be wise not to try changing stances with Mayweather unless he’s well on the outside.
McGregor’s popularity has increased rapidly in the PPV area of his career. Unfortunately for McGregor, top fighters in the UFC don’t stay at the top for long. They have a very short shelf life. Just how much longer McGregor will enjoy the success that he’s had is the big question. History tells us that McGregor doesn’t have too much longer at the top of the UFC.
“McGregor’s side is done. I’m starting to work on the Mayweather side now,” said White. “I got one side done, now it’s time to work on the other. If we can come to a deal with Al Haymon (Mayweather’s advisor) and Mayweather, the fight’s going to happen.”
The negotiations between Mayweather and McGregor could drag on for months and months if Dana White and McGregor insists on getting a 50-50 percentage of the money. Mayweather’s side can point out that McGregor hasn’t been getting huge paydays in the UFC during his short career. He doesn’t rate the big money yet because he hasn’t been there before. You’ve got to start out small as the B-side player before you can say that you’re popular enough to rate an even split of the loot against someone like Mayweather.
It’s unclear what McGregor has signed with White. If White hasn’t even talked over the percentage split with Mayweather’s manager Al Haymon, then it begs the question what has McGregor signed? You can’t call it a fight contract if the percentage split hasn’t ironed out yet. Mayweather has made a lot more money during his boxing career in his PPV fights than McGregor. That’s not keeping White from believing that his fighter McGregor deserves an even split. If the two fighters could arrange a 2-fight deal where Mayweather gets a 60-40 split in the first fight and McGregor an even 50-50 split in a rematch, then it would be worth it for Mayweather to give the UFC fighter what he wants. Apart from that, it’s not realistic for McGregor to get an even 50-50 split of the money for a fight with Mayweather.
Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) retired from boing in 2015 after a 12 round decision win over Andre Berto. Mayweather has made it quite clear to the boxing world that he has no interest in returning to the sport to fight any of the top boxers. Mayweather just wants to fight UFC star Conor McGregor in seeking out his 50th consecutive win as a pro. Mayweather is perceived by some boxing fans and as selfish, and uncaring about the potential fallback from his fight with McGregor. If the PPV industry is hurt for boxing from the Mayweather-McGregor fight, then there’s nothing that can be done about it. These kind of strange fights are likely going to be very much part of the future in the sport. UFC is becoming increasingly more popular due to the pure action the fights bring to the fans. Boxing is lagging with a lot of fights being boring with a lot of holding being allowed by the referees. If a boxer feels he can get a good payday fighting a UFC fighter, he’s going to try and make that happen.
It’s thought that there will be a huge backlash from the Mayweather-McGregor fight that will hurt the PPV industry for boxing due to the fight likely ending up as a huge mismatch with Mayweather dominating. However, Mayweather sees himself as giving the fans what they want to see. He says the fans want to see him fight McGregor. The truth of the matter is if Mayweather wasn’t facing McGregor, then another boxer would. Manny Pacquiao is just one of many boxers that would likely face McGregor if Mayweather wasn’t taking the fight. Whether this will lead to back and forth fights between the UFC and boxing is the big question. It would be a smarter thing for the two sports to have a middle ground in which new rules could be created to make it fair for both fighters. For example, things kicks should be allowed to give the UFC fighter more of a chance.