Conor McGregor V Floyd Mayweather Super-Fight: 5 Positives & 5 Negatives

Positives

5. Money, Money, Money

Both sports have tried to pretend otherwise, but combat sports has been in the era of the money fight for a while now. Boxing and MMA will often overlook meritocracy in favour of a fight that will attract the biggest audience, the highest ticket prices, and the most buys possible on pay-per-view. The unique thing about this fight, is that they are both the money fights in their respective sports.

Boxing is doing well in 2017, but Floyd Mayweather could fight almost anyone in a boxing ring, and it would be the biggest fight of the year. I'm sure British boxing fans would argue Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko is the fight that will define 2017, but it didn't completely catch the imagination of fans outside of Europe. Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez is coming up a few weeks after this fight. It will still be a very big deal, but a potential three month build will likely be put on hold and squeezed into three weeks instead after the Mayweather-McGregor show has left town.

For McGregor, there's no competition. He is the biggest draw in mixed martial arts, no questions asked. While it's always difficult to get the true numbers when it comes to UFC pay-per-view buys, only Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar have ever gotten close to what McGregor does on a consistent basis. With Lesnar retired and Rousey semi-retired at least, there's no question who the pound-for-pound number one is at the box office.

Both fighters are likely to make over $100,000,000 from this fight. It's an obscene number, but good money if you can get it. For Mayweather, it wouldn't be the first time. But for McGregor, it must be beyond his wildest dreams to be here a little over four years after his UFC debut.