Are fight fans being sold wolf tickets?
According to the L.A. times, despite Conor McGregor signing to fight Floyd Mayweather days ago, the UFC has yet to even reach out to anyone from Floyd’s camp to start the bargaining over fight night’s A-side vs. B-side $100 Million Dollar pot.
The L.A. Times report reads:
Interviews Thursday with several people inside the fight game who understand negotiating and have done business with Mayweather in recent years revealed that considerable distance remains between a McGregor-UFC agreement and getting retired pound-for-pound No. 1 Mayweather, 40, in the ring.
“You have to understand that Dana White saying he’s made a deal with Conor McGregor doesn’t mean anything,” said a fight maker who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not involved in these talks.
“He could be making a deal simply to please Conor McGregor … to make it look like Dana White is on the side of his biggest star. The next thing could be Dana White going back to Conor McGregor and saying: ‘Oh, these people are totally unreasonable. Can you believe Mayweather wants 70% of the pot? That leaves nothing for us.
“‘[Forget] it. I’ll pay you more fighting here in the UFC, where you are the main guy. You don’t want to be second fiddle.’ The deal with Dana White doesn’t mean [anything].”
White did not respond to The Times after announcing he and McGregor had agreed to terms on a deal allowing the fighter, who has four fights left on his UFC contract, to participate in the boxing match that has captured wide mainstream sports fans’ attention and imagination.
However, officials close to Mayweather, 40, said as of Thursday afternoon, there had been no contact with the UFC and either Mayweather or his powerful manager, Al Haymon.
“There is nothing to report,” is all Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe would say Thursday as he and Mayweather promoted their junior-lightweight world champion Gervonta Davis’ Saturday bout in London against Liam Walsh on Showtime.
