The talk about UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting seemed farfetched until Friday when UFC president Dana White officially made Mayweather an offer.
Retired UFC welterweight contender Chris “Lights Out” Lytle was a professional boxer before turning his attention to mixed martial arts. Before exchanging the ring for the Octagon, Lytle had an impressive 13-1-1 boxing record. With the talk of McGregor and Mayweather heating up, Lytle thinks the fight makes “complete sense” for both guys.
“It makes complete sense for Conor McGregor to want to go fight Floyd Mayweather because Floyd doesn’t really knock anybody out. He’s not a hard puncher. He’ll out-jab you a few times and make you go the distance. So it’s a great fight for him. He’d probably make $50 million, maybe $100 million. I don’t know what he’d make, but he’d make a ton of money,” Lylte told MMAWeekly.com.
The money and the low-risk of being knocked out may make the bout a good idea for McGregor, but Lytle also thinks it makes sense for Mayweather.
“I think it’s a smart fight for Floyd because Floyd is all worried about his reputation and this would be a big match-up, a big main guy, and I think he feels like he definitely has the boxing advantage against him. I think it’s a very smart fight for both guys,” he said.
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In an MMA fight, there’s little doubt that Mayweather would struggle, but the bout being talked about would take place in the boxing ring under boxing rules. If the fight does actually happen, Lytle believes McGregor would have a difficult time against one of the greatest boxers in the history of pugilism.
“People don’t realize that elite level of boxing is very, very good. I think at the very elite level, (McGregor) wouldn’t fare so well. I think he could beat your average boxer and even some good boxers. But you start throwing in some elite boxers, I think it would be very difficult because that is all those boxers do. That’s all they’ve trained at for many, many, many years.
“When you do MMA, you do grappling, you do kickboxing, you do boxing. You do a lot, but you’re not doing what they do. It’s a little bit different and I think that really pushes the advantage to those boxers.”
