Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor generated colossal hype and revenue with their initial 2017 bout.
In that fight, Mayweather improved his career record to 50–0 with a 10th-round technical knockout against the UFC superstar in Las Vegas. Mayweather reportedly earned $275 million from the bout, while McGregor received $85 million, according to Forbes.
Naturally, many observers and fans have been clamoring for a rematch ever since, and pundits speculate that Mayweather-McGregor II could generate more than $1 billion.
Rumors of a rematch were stoked Tuesday with a report by The Sun, a British tabloid, citing an unnamed source that claimed a “deal is very close to being done.” The Sun reported that the rematch would be an official bout, with records on the line, at 155 pounds. The report also stated that the reprise could take place somewhere in the Middle East in March 2023.
However, UFC president Dana White emphatically refuted the report Tuesday night, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. McGregor, after all, has two fights remaining on a UFC contract he signed in 2018.
“All bull [expletive],” White said, per the Review-Journal. “Those guys are just talking on social media like they do. Whatever the hell that tabloid is called is full of the [expletive].”
Clearly, White is fiercely protective of UFC’s interests. When asked what it would take for him to help facilitate Mayweather-McGregor II, White bluntly answered, “dementia,” per the Review-Journal.
So while a Mayweather-McGregor rematch isn’t happening anytime soon, according to White, the rumors of such an eagerly anticipated fight probably aren’t going away, either—especially when approximately $1 billion might be at stake.
