Showtime president Stephen Espinoza believes the UFC may be the biggest obstacle to a rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
Reports indicated last week that Mayweather and McGregor are close to an agreement for a sequel, but are arguing over the rules of the second meeting. This came after previous claims that the pair were holding talks for the rematch, with McGregor posting "I accept" on social media, which appeared to confirm the plan.
UFC president Dana White was heavily involved in the fight when the pair met in a hugely lucrative crossover bout back in 2017. And Espinoza believes that there is significant interest from the boxing legend in pursuing his former rival for a second time. "I think the UFC is still a major obstacle/ I mean, having said that, they were an obstacle the first time," Espinoza said when assessing the chances of a rematch in an interview with FightHype.
"Until they were convinced to go along with it and I think in retrospect they're pretty happy with certainly the financial results if not the results of the fight. Floyd is out there, look, he's never gonna stop trying to do the biggest events possible. So, I have no doubt that he'd be interested in it. I have no doubt that it would be a huge worldwide event but the question as usual is where are the UFC at on Conor's side?
"Conor hasn't been that active whereas Floyd has been active in exhibitions but the other question is what kind of business does that do? I think there is more hysteria than there is substance about it but who knows? That whole thing with Floyd and Conor was rumoured for sixth months before it went into existence, and that's almost what is happening right now."
Mayweather and McGregor both earned huge purses from the first event with McGregor suffering a stoppage defeat in the 10th round. The boxing legend is expected to have earned around $280million in total with McGregor taking away around $130 million.
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The event was also hugely popular with fans having become the second highest-selling pay-per-view in history with 4.3million units sold which placed it just below Mayweather's fight with Manny Pacquiao. Despite the prospect of a sequel also generating huge revenue, it is unlikely McGregor will be allowed to take the fight as he has two fights remaining on his current deal with the UFC.
UFC kingpin White quickly hit back at reports claiming that he would have to have "dementia" to approve the fight. He said: “All bull****”. Those guys are just talking on social media like they do." Any fight between the pair would likely not take place until next year with McGregor currently recovering from breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier last summer.
