On this day in 2017, former two-weight UFC world champion, Conor McGregor, stepped across into the world of professional boxing to take on the undefeated megastar, Floyd Mayweather in what was billed as ‘The Money Fight’.
At the time, McGregor was the biggest name in the UFC, the biggest PPV star and was coming off a rebound win in his rematch against Nate Diaz. Mayweather, at aged 40 was retired and had been out of the ring for almost two years, having beaten Andre Berto in 2015. His record stood at 49-0 and looked to progress to 50-0 against The Notorious.
Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather – The World Tour
A four-city world tour took place to hype up the fight, with plenty of sound bites and talking coming out of every occasion. Los Angeles saw McGregor wear his infamous ‘F**k you’ pinstripe suit. Dana White hyped Conor McGregor up like no one else could and the Irishman used his time at the mic to do what he does best and look to ruin Mayweather before the fight had even begun. So much so that they even cut his mic to stop him from interrupting Mayweather whilst the American was on the mic.
Next stop saw the two take to Toronto, Canada and McGregor began the presser with a chant of ‘F**k the Mayweathers’. The UFC star continued to goad Mayweather but the American didn’t bite. In classic Mayweather fashion, he had his bag of money but also donned the Irish tricolour in a ploy to anger McGregor.
The third stop saw the two men take to Brooklyn, New York. McGregor, this time not donning a suit, turned up in patterned trousers, shirtless with a big fur coat. The press conference got a little ugly when race came into it, however, Mayweather seemingly got the upper hand, referring to McGregor as a stripper and throwing money at him. Despite a ploy to anger the Irishman, it created quite an iconic picture.
The two men ended their press tour in London with McGregor dominating proceedings, constantly mimicking Mayweather, embarrassing him on multiple occasions. One of the most poignant parts of the presser was McGregor referring to boxing as ‘half a fight’.
The Pre-Fight Antics
Social Media
Social media played a huge role in this fight. From McGregor announcing it on Instagram with a picture of himself and Floyd Mayweather Sr stating ‘The fight is on’. In addition to this, he continued to poke Mayweather, wearing a CJ Watson jersey, a man who reportedly had a relationship with a woman Floyd Mayweather had a child with.
That Sparring Video
Ahead of the Mayweather bout, McGregor brought in Paulie Malignaggi as a training and sparring partner. Malignaggi was a former world champion and joined Team Conor McGregor in a controversial appointment.
Rumours began to circulate that McGregor had dropped Malignaggi, which the American denied. This led to Dana White leaking pictures of the former boxer on the floor, followed by a video of the incident itself.
🚨 In 2017, Conor McGregor & Pauli Malignaggi had the most talked about sparring session in the history of combat sports. pic.twitter.com/miYIDA41XQ
— Boxing Kingdom (@BoxingKingdom14) October 16, 2024
Following this, Malignaggi left the camp and teamed up with Mayweather, claiming that he was only ever a spy for the American, throwing McGregor’s camp into turmoil.
Open Workouts
Many expected Conor McGregor to maybe continue to play mind games for his boxing match and perform a jiu-jitsu roll, however, it wasn’t to be. He entered the UFC Performance Institute, shadow-boxed to warm up and hit the heavy bag.
Mayweather showed that age is just a number, looking quick on the heavy bag himself, training his neck and shadow boxing, holding weights.
Weigh Ins
The fight was contested at 154lbs, a weight that would be McGregor’s lowest for two years. Mayweather took to the scales, hitting 149.5lbs. A big talking point as McGregor was always going to be the bigger man in the ring, however, as the Irishman weighed in at 153lbs, this was only made larger at the time. It would be the final time the two men set eyes on each other before taking to the ring. This was actually happening.
The Fight Itself
The fight itself was a spectacle. After an exciting undercard, the two combat sports athletes from differing disciplines took their walk to the ring. McGregor, draped in the Irish tricolour, entered to the familiar ‘foggy dew’ soundtrack UFC fans were used to.
The American, wearing a balaclava, had the aura of someone who was entering his 50th professional bout, undefeated.
Referee Robert Byrd reminded the fighters that this would be contested under boxing rules, stating, “I’m not going to wrestle with you, I’m not going to grapple with you”.
McGregor began the fight on the front foot, looking to land on Mayweather regularly and with great effect. This was all part of the American’s plan, however. His awkward style appeared to force Mayweather to think a little more than he anticipated, landing a clean uppercut.
Mayweather stayed patient for the early rounds, knowing that McGregor had power. The UFC star’s lack of boxing conditioning began to show as the middle rounds began. Mayweather began to increase his pressure, not allowing McGregor to rest and switching his game plan from a defensive to a counter-punching style.
Towards what would become the end of the fight, McGregor visibly fatigued and Mayweather’s output increased dramatically. Having thrown just 28 punches in total during the first three rounds, Money threw 170 in rounds 7,8 and 9 combined. This was Mayweather’s third game plan change. From a defensive fighter, to a counter-puncher, and now to a man who was pressing the action with impressive shots landed at ease.
McGregor lost all snap on his punches, became flat-footed, fell over his feet and was landed on much more frequently. Mayweather’s accuracy in round nine was up at 62%.
The end came in the tenth round when Mayweather decided to put the hammer down on McGregor and overwhelm the UFC star with precise, vicious shots. At 1:05 of the tenth round, it was all over. The boxer had beaten the MMA fighter, progressing to a flawless 50-0 and earned a huge amount of money in the process.
The Aftermath
What was nice to see after the fight is there was a lot of respect between the two men. Conor McGregor gave Floyd Mayweather his props, showing a lot of respect to the boxer.
McGregor described the fight as ‘some buzz’ and also stated that he was merely ‘fatigued’, rather than hurt. He further stated that he wished that the referee had wished he’d allowed McGregor to go out on his shield.
The two men wouldn’t meet in the ring again, although there were rumours. It did, however, open doors to MMA fighters facing boxers, such as Francis Ngannou‘s venture into the boxing world.
