UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor has signed his half of the bout agreement for the potential super fight against Floyd Mayweather.
Even though Mayweather has yet to sign a bout agreement, one Showtime executive still expects the bout to take place this fall.
“I think the date really is a function of how long it takes to get a deal done because the reality is, it took a long time for the UFC and Conor to reach an agreement to allow Conor to participate. Now the real negotiations start which is the Floyd side versus the Conor-UFC side. If that drags on then you’re probably looking at late this year. If it really drags on then you’re looking at early next year. But if people are as motivated as they seem to be – I know how badly Floyd wants it – if we get this wrapped up pretty quickly we could be seeing it early fall. That’s the goal. That’s what we’ve heard from Floyd. Now it’s just getting in a room and seeing if people will be reasonable on the kind of deal that they’re looking for,” Stephen Epsinoza said to Fight Hype.
Original plans, according to Dana White, was to have the fight on September 16, but then the GGG/Alvarez fight was announced for that date.
If a fight of this magnitude were to come together, the potential pay-per-view buy rate may be too hard to predict.
“It’s tough to say that because even before Mayweather-Pacquiao my prediction was 3-3.5 million buys. I said after the fight that I wasn’t sure that we’d ever see some event in my lifetime to surpass it. Just because it was so big, I hesitate but at the same time, I have trouble thinking of a significant group of people who bought Mayweather-Pacquiao who would then say, ‘No, I’m not gonna buy Mayweather-McGregor,’ and since you are drawing from two distinct fan bases, it might give that record a run for the money,” says Espinoza.
Mayweather’s team is expected to start negotiating with UFC President Dana White and others shortly.
