By Allan Fox: Leonard Ellberbe of Mayweather Promotions says there’s no chance of a fight taking place between UFC star Conor McGregor and the retired boxing start Floyd Mayweather Jr. The 28-year-old McGregor made news this week by getting his boxing license to fight in the sport in California. However, Ellerbe sees it as a strategy for McGregor to expand his fan base by him name dropping Mayweather’s name frequently, and putting it out three that he’s ready to fight him.
By McGregor constantly saying stuff like that, boxing fans will likely discover him and start paying attention to his fights in the MMA. Ellberbe doesn’t think the UFC management honchos will ever give McGregor permission to compete in boxing, because it would likely end badly for him. McGregor is under constant with the UFC, and he would need their permission for him to fight in another sport like boxing.
Ellberbe sees it as a big con game with McGregor with him constantly name dropping Mayweather’s name in order to get attention to fans from the boxing world. Ellerbe just sees it as a way for McGregor to expand his fan base from not only MMA fans, but also boxing fans. Ellbebe sees McGregor as being beaten badly if he ever fights Mayweather.
A lot of fans of the sport think McGregor would be badly beaten by pretty much anybody, because the video of him sparring with boxer Chris Van Heerden didn’t present a good picture of his skills inside the ring. Van Heerden appeared to be toying with McGregor during the sparring session.
Ellerbe said this to ESPN.com about McGregor, his chance of ever box, and the reasons why he keeps name dropping Mayweather’s name:
“At the end of the day, he’s under contract with the UFC,” Ellerbe said. “He’s told what to do. He’s an employee. He’s done a masterful con job to try to trick people that he could actually pull this off. It’s another creative way to create more interest. Nobody is mad but it’s a con job trying to make people think this is real and even mentioning him and TBE.”
Given the short shelf life for MMA fighters at the top of the sport, it’s quite possible that McGregor could box after he’s no longer a relevant fighter in the UFC. The bad news is that it might take two to four years before McGregor has been replaced at the top of the UFC. Even if he takes up boxing full time at that point, he’d still be in his 30s, and that’s old for someone that is taking up the sport.
The training that McGregor is getting in the UFC isn’t going to help him much to get ready for a career as a boxer. It’s a completely different sport, and it takes years to learn it properly. McGregor isn’t getting the foundation he needs in the sport due to him having to spend so much time with training in the MMA style, which involves a lot of wrestling and submission holds. It’s completely different from the pugilistic sport.
Ellberbe respects McGregor’s ability to box, as he feels he’s better than the average MMA fighter in the department. However, he still sees him as having no chance inside the boxing ring against a real fighter like Mayweather. As I mentioned earlier, Ellberbe doubts that the new owners of the UFC will never let McGregor fight outside of the UFC. Why should they? If McGregor gets hurt while fighting in another sport, they would be hurting themselves, because they would lose a big star.
Further, if McGregor were to get embarrassed by a fighter like Mayweather or any boxer for that matter, it would likely cause a lot of fans to lose interest in him. Right now, McGregor (21-3) has a lot of fans that are on following him, because they feel he is the best in the UFC, even though he recently tapped out in his first fight against Nate Diaz earlier this year. McGregor has won his last two fights and avenged his loss to Diaz, albeit by a questionable 5 round decision. McGregor’s career is once again looking good. The last thing he needs is to take up another sport and wind up being clowned by someone like Mayweather.
“He’s a very good MMA fighter, give credit where it’s due,” Ellerbe said. “It’s kind of played out now. Just stop it. The con game is over. Go out there and worry about dominating the UFC because three fights ago he lost.”
If McGregor is serious about really boxing and if he’s allowed to fight in that sport by the owners of the UFC, then former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi is reportedly interested in fighting him inside the ring. I’m not sure if the 36-year-old Malignaggi is who McGregor has in mind in fighting inside the ring. McGregor seems to want to start at the very top of the sport by taking on Mayweather rather than fighting his way to the top by earning it, which is why it makes some fans see McGregor as not being seriously interested. It seems like a circus act. McGregor might as well volunteer to quarterback one of the NFL teams in the next Super Bowl, because it’s pretty much the same thing. He has no experience and he’s saying he wants to fight the best.