Campbell McClaren may be the founder of Combate Americas right now, but he was also one of the co-founders of the UFC.
When it comes to the upcoming super fight between UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, the UFC co-founder says the Irishman has a punchers chance.
“It’s going to make a lot of money. What are they saying, 5 million buys at $100? That’s a half a billion dollars. It’s good for somebody! Floyd is a one of a kind, maybe once in a lifetime fighter. When I did the ‘Iron Ring,’ the T.V. show I did with BET that actually brought black fighters into MMA for the 1st time, Floyd was in that show, so I gave him a team of MMA fighters. So, I got to know him; he’s a star. He was actually very good to work with, always hit the mark. Is he the best defensive boxer of all time? Probably. I went with Lorenzo and Dana to see Conor fight in Dublin about 2 years ago. That was an awesome experience. Conor is very much the real deal. If Floyd is the best defensive boxer in history, I don’t think Conor is the best aggressive boxer in history, so I kind of think that’s how it’s going to go. Conor’s got a puncher’s chance. Anything can happen; he’s definitely younger,” McClaren said to Bloody Elbow.
Since departing the UFC almost two decades ago, the executive has been building the newest promotion he has founded in Combate Americas.
The promotion makes its highly anticipated debut on ESPN 3 on Thursday Night and they are debuting with a network that is excited with what his promotion can do.
“We have done spectacularly well with ESPN in Latin America. They’re top rated. We’re killing it in Argentina and Chile. We’re also on in Mexico, on channel 7, and I’m pleased to say, we’re doing 3.5 million viewers on the live event in Mexico. That beats the UFC’s live numbers on FOX and Televisa combined. Three and a half million f-cking viewers. That’s a lot of motherf-ckers. So, ESPN noticed that, and I think they realized that they needed to maybe take a chance with us. It’s ABC; it’s Disney. They’re a very conservative company; they’ve never done MMA, but I think they saw that what we were doing is exciting,” says McClaren.
Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather takes place on Saturday, August 26 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
