Issue 169

August 2018

Will it happen? Should it happen? We bring together exclusive opinions from fighters, trainers and promoters across the world on whether May-Mac 2 in the Octagon is on

Many are the voices in MMA’s upper reaches saying that the cage should not be the stage for the second coming of a Floyd Mayweather Jr-Conor McGregor superfight. Hard to argue against that. In athletic terms, a mixed martial arts fight should never really be entertained. The gulf between them, more so than in a boxing match, is seemingly unbridgeable. How could it be competitive?

But ‘entertainment’ is the key word here. They said the first meeting between the two uber-promotable fighters, in a boxing match, would be farcical. It was. Yet in the age of clickbait and with a neck-craning public hungry for online and televised sports entertainment, it was a marketing revelation. The protagonists played it perfectly. The result was a $600 million bonanza.

Can they do it again, in reverse? Well, hold on to your hats, folks, because the prospect of the two biggest-earning names in combat sports meeting again, this time in a UFC Octagon, is very real.

The rematch is gathering steam, moreover, with every Instagram video post from ‘Money’ Mayweather in his 4oz gloves – barefoot in a cage – and the replies from the irascible McGregor that Floyd would be “destroyed”.

Those in the sport know about the gap between MMA and boxing for a boxer – remember the hapless effort of James Toney against Randy Couture way back in 2010? Once on the ground, one of the great modern boxers was like a beached – yet toothless – shark.

But what can this 41-year-old version of Mayweather really do to challenge McGregor, or indeed any other MMA fighter? They did it once, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, but are they now to switch from a boxing ring to a mixed martial arts cage for a return fight? Is it even viable? It would certainly need to have some underwritten credibility from Mayweather’s side.

We hear that UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is about to begin a stint training Mayweather, and a timeline of six to eight months to get Floyd ready for his first fight is being discussed. Woodley believes Mayweather needs to learn a defensive strategy to survive, and he could then be credible. “He doesn’t have to go out there and start learning how to kick like Bruce Lee. He does not have to go out there and become a black belt overnight,” Woodley argues.

Mayweather has never fought professionally outside boxing, in which he finished his career unbeaten on 50-0, as a world champion in five weight divisions.“He just has to be able to block, get within boxing range and then I think he’ll hold his own with anybody in the UFC,” explains Woodley. “For example, blocking kicks is really easy. Once you get to the point where Floyd Mayweather is at, you can see that his boxing, his defense, his ability to see a punch coming in a fraction of a second and avoid or evade that punch, comes from repetition. Drilling over and over and over again. So that’s all we would have to do to utilize blocking kicks.

“If you look at mixed martial arts as a sport, there are guys that are in the UFC that don’t have a four out of five in their wrestling or jiu jitsu,” Woodley continues. “So therefore, it’s not kinda crazy that someone with some of the best boxing we’ve ever seen may be able to hold his own. Obviously, every round starts on the feet, every fight starts on the feet, and if he can keep it on the feet, I think that he can hold his own with pretty much anyone in that weight division. My job is to really just help him avoid being taken down, using angles, using footwork, using defense and how to get back up if he does get taken down.”

Duke Roufus, who trains Woodley and would play a role alongside the UFC’s 170lb champion, is of a similar opinion. “I’m open to working with him, Floyd’s a special fighter,” reasons Roufus. “And Tyron, because he trains with high-level boxers, he’ll be able to show characteristic nuances that happen in MMA. There is a lot to learn with the wrestling counters, but if he can head it off at the pass with footwork and boxing, it could work. Tyron’s a wrestler and MMA fighter, so he’s like a double agent, and he would be a secret weapon for Floyd.”

Cesar Gracie has had a fascinating idea. He says adapting the rules on the ground could make it intriguing for Mayweather and the fans.

“In my view, they would have to create a 30 second to 1 minute mandatory stand up rule,” reasons Gracie, who says he would offer his coaching skills. “I would love to train Mayweather as I would make sure he could survive the limited time on the ground. Everyone would watch. I could see it with adapted rules. The UFC would be the promoter and it would be a UFC/ Mayweather promotion.”

Curiosity is a great factor in this crossover to MMA for Mayweather, says Jake Shields, a protegé of Gracie. “Floyd is one of the greatest boxers of all time and I don’t think it makes sense for him to switch over,” argues Shields. “I don’t think at his age he could learn enough grappling to compete with any decent UFC fighter. His style is very technical and he’s not a one punch KO guy so doesn’t even have the ability to make guys scared to shoot or clinch. I can’t think of many fighters I would want to watch him fight.” But there’s the rub (which probably goes for all of us).

“That being said,” adds Shields, “I still would watch his debut out of curiosity. But if he got destroyed in his first fight then all interest is lost.”

Working with Woodley, says Michael Chiesa, is “a good move”.

“Tyron has the kind of skill set that would benefit Floyd,” says the UFC lightweight. “The key is how he stops himself from being taken to the ground, and staying out of trouble. He is the very best at just one aspect of MMA, though, and I think in reality Floyd would struggle against anyone who is a seasoned MMA fighter. But the bottom line is that if Conor McGregor is fighting, of course it will draw a huge audience. Whoever he fights will draw a huge audience, even if it is Floyd.” The added incentive is that with a huge amount of money swirling around this fight, it could lure McGregor into the Octagon, in a return of the UFC’s prodigal son. That alone could get this fight over the start line.

Back in Ireland, John Kavanagh, McGregor’s long-time coach, gave his view on the rematch. Firstly, could Mayweather learn any MMA under the Roufus/Woodley axis ? “I think it’s probably unrealistic that he’s going to get any sort of grappling behind him. You could name all the names in the world, but unless he’s really training and devoting himself, he’s not going to learn it. I just don’t see that in his personality, in his way of training. He thinks because he won on the feet, he’ll land a big shot on the feet and he’d win on the feet. I imagine that’s how he thinks it will go.”

But Kavanagh is under no illusions that if McGregor were to fi ght Mayweather, they would need to be uber-professional in preparation.

“We’ve seen Matt Serra knock out GSP,” reflects Kavanagh. “Anything can happen in MMA, so we would have to train hard and correct. We’d have to respect the fact he is one of the best boxers of all time. He’s got four ounce gloves, he’s going to swinghard. I’m around long enough to know that too many people have woken up when they thought it was going to be easy.”

It is a fight that could get McGregor interested again. “He’s not fighting any more for money,” says Kavanagh. “He’s got all the money in the world. He had to find a new spark for himself. Why is he fighting? And I believe now it’s to prove he is the best, fight the best and leave a strong legacy.”

Is Kavanagh’s instinct that a May-Mac iMMA fight may happen? “I hear it’s getting close and then it goes away,” the respected SBG coach said “And then it’s getting close and then it goes away again. So, I don’t know. What I do want is that if we do have it, and I genuinely mean this, I want a competitive MMA fight soon afterwards for Conor as well. I don’t care what the rules would be, whether it’s boxing with leg kicks, Conor is still going to destroy Floyd. Add in any extra weapon and Conor wins quickly. I’m an MMA coach, I love seeing Conor fight MMA and I want to see him in a competitive MMA fight.” Ideally, for Kavanagh, such a fight would come only a few weeks later. “When you do a training camp you put a lot into it becoming strong and healthy,” he explains. “So let’s use that for a competitive MMA fight. I think he can mow through Mayweather in a round regardless of the rule set and within four weeks, let’s do a real fight.”

Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran, the cuts man who has seen it all, has a different take, like a few others in the sport.

“How does the old saying go?” he asks. “Fool me once, it’s on you. Fool me twice it’s on me! The first event was a marketing masterpiece. We all bought it – hook, line and sinker. The second time around it will be hard to sell. Nobody will want to see Floyd in an MMA fight. Even if it was McGregor. Even if they modify the rules, like taking away takedowns, elbows, locks knees etc. Even if Floyd had a year to train MMA and fought a seasoned fighter, my view is that he would not have a chance.”

But there are still those involved in the technical side of the sport who have a curiosity about what Mayweather could learn.

In Canada, they want to see the outcome, according to Leigh Mein, coach and former fighter. He agrees with Roufus and Woodley, but says there are limitations for the Las Vegan.

“The key to fighting is distance control,” he says. “Floyd has the footwork to control distance. He always has a puncher’s chance, but in an MMA fight even someone really green would give him problems.”

Scott Coker, though, the CEO of Bellator MMA, believes a two-rubber match should have been signed when the boxing match was sealed.

“Conor surprised me in the boxing match,” reflects Coker. “He did much better than I thought he would. We’ve got to give it to him. He put on an entertaining fight. That was probably the most entertaining fight I’ve seen Floyd Mayweather in since he was Pretty Boy Floyd and not Money Mayweather.”

And the return match in MMA? “Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki had that fight in 76 in Japan,” remembers Coker. “That was like the first mixed martial arts fight where Ali was boxing and Inoki could throw leg kicks. Then you fast forward to the Randy Couture fight with James Toney. I think when you look at what MMA fighters have to do they have to box, they have to wrestle, they have to do thai boxing and jiu jitsu. They have to combine it all together. That doesn’t mean a boxer can’t do the same thing and go study jiu jitsu and go study wrestling and become an MMA fighter. If a boxer wants to take the time and really learn the art of MMA, and he has a big name in boxing and wants to come over, why wouldn’t we want to see that? If Floyd would fight Conor in MMA I think he’d do a bigger gate and a bigger PPV than boxing. People will say Conor will probably take him out or choke him out, but those two guys could sell anything. They would sell that fight, people would buy it and I think it would break the record from the last fight.”

Others are for the fight, too. Uriah Faber said: “I threw my name in the

hat (to fight Floyd). I think if rules are adapted it doesn’t count. Fans would watch but they would have to hand pick an opponent. Floyd is very skilled in a very important part of the game. He could definitely beat a less skilled MMA fighter, but against high-level guys, there is a very slim chance of him winning.”

So would an opponent like CM Punk be ideal for Mayweather as a starter, before taking on McGregor? No, say the experts.

Javier Mendez, head coach at AKA, believes, “It’s viable but I’m not sure people would want to see Floyd against the likes of a CM Punk.

“Unless he fights someone real decent,” the coach of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Cain Velasquez continues, “I don’t think there will be interest. And it has to be against someone famous like McGregor because why would he fight in MMA unless there was a huge payday? That is my opinion though and anything is possible.” Bruce Buffer would love to announce the contest in an Octagon, and thinks we must see Mayweather as a special athlete.

“I believe that if Floyd Mayweather sets his mind to training for a future MMA rules bout inside the UFC Octagon, that with his athleticism it could be a very entertaining and engaging bout to watch,” Buffer reasons. “All of us would watch it no matter who his opponent.

“To match him against Conor McGregor would be a mistake in my opinion,” Buffer continues. “He should be matched with a worthy opponent allowing him to cut his teeth in the Octagon for his first bout, as CM Punk was able to. Either way, Floyd has to master a sprawl and a takedown defense plus learn to check a kick properly, otherwise it will be a short night.”

Promotionally, it could easily happen, say those at the top of the sport. Ant Evans is a leading executive for UFC Fight Pass, with his own take on a likely match-up.

“CM Punk is a non-starter in my opinion,” Evans argues. “He’s a sideshow and quite frankly one who has already outstayed his welcome. If Floyd comes in, he will fight a star. Why risk him losing to someone who isn’t a star? If not Conor maybe DJ, the MMA pound for pound No1 vs Boxing’s No1. DJ giving up weight to prove a point? But really, the whole reason for the fight is to make money . . . and of course the big money is Conor.”

Ed Soares, manager of Anderson Silva, and now CEO of Legacy Fighting Alliance, adds, “It’s viable. I think fans would watch it. I think Nick Newell would be a crazy match up but I don’t think Floyd would take it. I think Mayweather will have to work his ass off to learn, and I don’t think the rules should be adapted.”

Chael Sonnen, a master of PR moves, says, “Of course people will watch. Celebrity boxing is a fine example of people willing to come along on the journey if they find the person interesting. The punches and the kicks quit selling in 2006. Now it’s the story that drives our industry. If the rules are adapted or are changed, it is no longer MMA in my view. If Floyd were to fight in MMA, it would have to be against a big name. Mayweather against McGregor is the storyline everyone would be interested in.”

One thing is for certain. The great boxer has some work to do... defence, defence, defence. But the consensus is that all eyes would be on the Octagon for Mayweather’s first walk, especially if it were against McGregor. It would be another case of notorious money, and we would not able to avert our eyes.