Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather is far from a done deal, but according to UFC president Dana White, that could change in the coming weeks. White appeared on Wednesday’s edition of The Herd and stated that he was planning to hammer out a deal with McGregor this week, then turn his sights on negotiating with Mayweather.
“I think we get the McGregor side done in the next couple of days and then I go lock myself in a room for a couple days with Team Mayweather and see what we can come out with,” White told “The Herd” on Wednesday.
At this point, neither side has agreed to any split of the profits from the fight but White gave his estimations on what he believes Mayweather and McGregor could reap from stepping into the ring together later this year.
Mayweather has long contended that he deserved a bigger split of the profits and judging from White’s figures it appears that the multi-time boxing champion would ultimately make more money in the end than McGregor.
Of course, the reigning UFC lightweight champion would also enjoy by far the biggest payday of his career.
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“It depends on how much the fight sells. If the fight sells as well as I think it can, Floyd makes a little north of $100 [million] and Conor makes $75 [million],” White revealed.
“[Mayweather] feels like he’s the ‘A’ side and he should get more of it. We really haven’t got into that negotiation yet. I wanted to get McGregor locked in first because McGregor is under contract with me. At the end of the day does this fight make a ton of sense for me? It really doesn’t but Conor wants this thing really bad and I’ve said this many times, kid’s stepped up and saved some big fights for me. I’m in, I’ll figure it out.”
Watch The Full Interview: Dana White on how close McGregor vs. Mayweather:
As far as the negotiations go, White doesn’t expect that he’ll be dealing with Mayweather but then again McGregor probably won’t be in the room either as the two sides start to work on a deal to bring the mega-fight together.
“I don’t think Floyd will personally be there himself,” White stated. “Whether he’s there or not there, it’s all the same thing. He’s going to hear what we’re looking for, I’m going to hear what they’re looking for and we’re going to see if we can hammer out a deal. It’s probably going to be me and Al Haymon.”
Haymon has worked on behalf of Mayweather throughout his boxing career and it sounds like White expects to deal with him for this proposed fight with McGregor as well.
As much as White hopes he can get a deal done, the UFC president also warns that there are no guarantees when it comes to putting together a fight of this magnitude.
“The Conor side, we’re good on the Conor side. I need to figure out the Mayweather side and maybe it can’t be. Maybe the Mayweather side can’t be done but we’ll see,” White said. “I promised Conor I’d do everything I could to make this thing happen so that’s what I’m going to do.
“There’s no doubt people want to see this fight. It’s all anybody ever asks me about. I’m going to do my best to see if I can get this thing done. I’m not saying I can, but we’re trying to.”