Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather — Why the Fuck Not?

Somehow we have got here… Conor McGregor will be fighting Floyd Mayweather on August 26th, 2017. Yes, Conor McGregor, UFC’s 145 & 155 pound champion, will fight 49-0 boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, the greatest defensive fighter and highest paid fighter in the history of the sport. Does this fight make any sense? No. Absolutely not. Beyond the fact that these are the only two fighters, brain dead mo-mos who don’t know shit about fighting could name. There is no real connection between these fighters. But somehow, this fight has grown a momentum of it’s own. People seems to gravitate toward it.

People who don’t talk about fighting were probably asking you about Floyd fighting that Irish guy.

That’s it. A fight made entirely to satisfy the curiosity of dummies.

But is that really a bad thing? I believe that all great MMA fights are based off a simple premise, a simple question. “What would happen if…???” What would happen if Conor McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather seems a hell of a lot like the early days of No Holds Barred. What would happen if a karate guy fought a sumo wrestler? A kickboxer fight a kung fu master? Sure over the years MMA fans got smart about this, but the rest of the world is still very dumb about fighting. But that’s not a bad thing. Again, the spirit of MMA is based on a dumb impulse, based in satisfying our ignorance and bloodlust.

We should never look forward to the day MMA loses its spirit of “Fuck it. Why Not?”.

Because at the end of the day, the only reason to make this fight is fuck it. Why not? To require that your reality be based on rational, well reasoned decision making would be a horrible jail to put your mind into. For fuck’s sake, we’ve discovered the brain can interpret 11 dimensions, and the president of America is a reality TV show host. We can’t start batting our eyelashes because the of a weird boxing match.

The Irish phenom, that the blew the sport of MMA to splinters thinks he can beat the best fighter in modern boxing history? Fuck it. I almost want to believe he can as well. Floyd wants to take his historic 50th victory against a 0-0 MMA fighter? Why not?

In some ways, it’s more curious that Floyd Mayweather would be interested in this fight. Conor’s motivations are pretty easy to understand. But Floyd already has the wealth, legacy, and reputation. The match-up does nothing for him except add money into his bank account. Sure this fight would also bring Floyd to a 50-0 record, surpassing the legendary Rocky Marciano’s undefeated record. But to win it against 0-0 Conor McGregor makes the whole accomplishment seem hollow. Clearly Floyd doesn’t put too much stock in the challenge of sport or of leaving a legacy in a traditional boxing sense. In a lot of ways, it’s nothing short of unbelievable that Mayweather is still solely motivated by money. And let’s be honest, pursuing this fight is a clear admission of just that.

Mayweather and his Money Team are stuck in a perpetual state of juvenile delinquency, obsessed with more money and luxury, despite having more than anyone could rightfully spend in a lifetime. Ending his career with two of the highest grossing boxing events ever in Canelo and Pacquiao, and still coming back for the ultimate payday with Conor. The fact that this final fight eschews any kind of challenge or real new threat tarnishes his place as a great in the sport of boxing. Maybe it’s too much to expect of “Money” Mayweather to transcend the traps of material greed, considering his track record of being a piece of shit. But that’s what we secretly want form our champions, right? Some kind of ethos or motivation beyond the material. Something that can touch the human spirit and inspire us to be more than what we are. It seems that Floyd, for all his successes, will never be capable of that.

Anyway, let’s take a in second and breath before the storm of bullshit surround this fight hits us all as fight fans for the next two months. And oh what a storm of bullshit it will be. The media events and press conferences leading up to this contest are going to be spectacular. While Floyd Mayweather doesn’t have the wit to stand with Conor, Floyd Mayweather Sr. regularly says some absolutely bat shit, crazy stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v8aP63s61w?t=25s

 

Beyond that awesome new character to have MMA fans in stitches, we can all revel in Dana White and Leonard Ellerbe (Floyd’s manager) pretending to be friends. The fake-ass compliments are going to be on a Mean Girls level. Despite getting together and sharing one of the biggest paydays in combat sports history, you know the clash of these two egos is just inevitable. The happiness of making billions of dollars can only satiate animals like White and Ellerbe for so long. Come fight night, the cracks in the facade of their friendship will be wide open. I hope that immediately post-fight Dana White going full Dana White freak out on Ellerbe, saying “Leonard and I were never friends”. Thankfully, we get to watch every step of this future bitter rivalry, starting with the honeymoon.

 

As awesome as this is going to be, the one thing not to get your hopes up about is the fight itself. Floyd Mayweather, despite being the best paid boxer of all time, isn’t the most entertaining boxer of all time. It’s the unfortunate truth that sometimes the most talented people, aren’t the most entertaining. And while Conor is goddamn dynamite in the octagon, I just cannot honestly think that McGregor is going to be able to bait Floyd into an epic war that goes down as a memorable, historic boxing match. This fight has the making of being more boring than Mayweather/Pacquiao . Our sliver of hope is Floyd ends up being so much better that he is able to knock Conor out. That could be memorable. Maybe. But I don’t see small Mayweather knocking out the legendary chin of McGregor.

Of course, as MMA fans, we should all be offering daily prayers to the MMA gods to have them bless McGregor’s left hand with the accuracy he needs make Floyd go unconscious. But we know the MMA Gods are fickle, and prone to letting our dreams die in front of our eyes.

But, the fact that this fight is even happening is itself absurd enough than maybe it is beyond the influence of even the might MMA gods. Perhaps it isn’t a step too far, a notion too crazy, to think that maybe, just maybe, McGregor could actually achieve this ridiculous dream and defeat the undefeated boxing legend. And somehow in all of that, we’ve discovered the true appeal of this fight. To watch a plumber from Crumlin reach for that brass ring one more time.

Published on June 15, 2017 at 3:00 am
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