Conor McGregor believes he carried Floyd Mayweather in their 2017 mega-fight despite being stopped by the legendary boxer.
UFC star McGregor competed in his first professional boxing match against former five-weight world champion Mayweather, losing to the American by 10th round stoppage. The fight was a huge success, selling 4.3million pay-per-view buys to make it the second highest-selling fight of all time, falling 300,000 buys short of the record held by Mayweather's 2015 fight with Manny Pacquiao.
The Irishman has now insisted he was the one who carried the fight, despite Mayweather also making the same claim several years ago. Whilst replying to Nate Diaz about a potential in the UFC's new Power Slap league, McGregor wrote back: "I carried Floyd. Not next time. Like in the pub. One shot. Nighty night I don’t give a rats, U too."
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Mayweather said he tried to make McGregor "look good" in the early rounds to deflect criticisms that were made of the crossover fight. "Everybody tried to protest the Mayweather-McGregor fight, right? But I'm going to tell y'all the truth. You know I carried McGregor. You know I made it look good for y'all," he said.
Official punch stats from the fight show that McGregor was landing more punches than Mayweather up until the sixth round, but 'Money' then turned the tide to outland the UFC star up until the fight was stopped. There have been talks of a second meeting between the pair, with Mayweather even claiming it could be a professional fight despite having retired with a flawless 50-0 record after beating McGregor.
"Me and Conor McGregor in 2023, we don't know if it's going to be an exhibition of a real fight. There's been talks of both but I would prefer an exhibition. I am not into fights where I am going to take any real punishment. So, guys like Conor McGregor and guys that don't really hit hard such as YouTubers or UFC guys, I don't really mind colliding with those kinds of individuals," he said.
McGregor will be unable to compete outside of the UFC - unless he is granted another exemption - as he is still under contract with the promotion until October of next year. The former two-weight champion hasn't fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in their trilogy fight but is hoping to book his comeback fight next year after over 18-months away from the cage.
