The huge fight that has been brewing for the last few months is drawing closer and closer. It has moved from just an idea, to rumours, to them two actually talking about the idea of fighting each other, to now where the negotiations are actually taking place
How the negotiations work
This is quite a complex deal to work out for several reasons. There a lot of people involved in this deal, a normal deal consists of the promoter and the two managers acting on behalf of the fighters. Due to the sport cross in this deal, there is Dana White (UFC President), Conor McGregor and his management, Floyd Mayweather and his team and Mayweather promotions. There are two sides to a deal, Dana white will negotiate with Conor McGregor's team first in which they will discuss show money, how much of the Pay Per View percentage will be split. Then Dana has to negotiate with the Mayweather team and discuss the same things. However, in boxing there is much more up for negotiation such as the arena, the referee, also the weight will be negotiated.
The Issues
Most of the issues to work out are ego and money. Floyd Mayweather has said he wants $100 million and McGregor is expected to get around $70 million. Mayweather wanted more than McGregor because he claims that he's the 'A' side. In boxing this means that he's the most important one in the match up so he should get more money. However, this has been disputed. McGregor is the more exciting fighter, he is a huge draw and except from the Pacquiao fight, every recent McGregor performance has had a higher PPV buy than the Mayweather fights.
Another issue to be tackled in these negotiations are the television and Pay-Per-View rights, this issue also links to another issue, would it be a UFC show with the boxing main event or would it be a boxing show. This is because boxing is linked with HBO in America (which is where the bout will take place) and the UFC has it's prelims on Fox Sports 1 and owns it's own PPV production. There are interesting arguments for both sides, Dana has said that he would like it to be on a UFC card, they'd put together a huge main card and prelims for the event and the UFC know how to promote a huge event perfectly, whereas a boxing event would be less desirable even for the boxing fans, they only really tune in for well promoted fights or the big ones. Dana and the UFC will earn a substantial amount from this because Conor is under contract with them. However, it is very likely to just be a boxing show due to the logistics of the ring and the octagon, although we may see a mix of MMA and boxing fights or a few of the UFC fighters who are more boxing proficient compete in the ring against boxers.
There are other small issues in this matter such as who would be the play by play commentators and the desk team for the PPV, if it is an entirely boxing card then we are likely to the HBO/Showtime desk team and commentators but the point has been made by the MMA side that we'd need someone to explain Conor's history, fighting style, the difference in range and movement, potentially commentate on the size of the ring vs the octagon and that MMA fighters wear the small 4oz gloves to enable grappling but also the enable more knockout due to the decreased amount of padding, increasing power in the punches. UFC's staple play-by-play commentator Joe Rogan would be perfect for this job, he has years of experience commentating, is exciting to listen to, has a black belt in Taekwondo and a knowledge of boxing.
The Money
The money is the big talk of this deal amongst the public. Dana White in an interview said that Conor would make $75 Million and Mayweather would make just north of $100 Million. This would be McGregor's biggest pay day by far. This could potentially break the record for PPV buys, breaking the previous Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao fight. The companies could be in for a huge pay day and the prices of the tickets will be insanely high. The lead up to the fight and the level of the promotion for this fight will be something to look forward to and likely to be looking at the backend of 2017 for the fight.
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