Getty/ZuffaEarlier this week, retired boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr had some interesting thoughts on the rise in popularity of Conor McGregor in the UFC, claiming it’s all the product of racism.
Mayweather pointed to racial bias as the reason why McGregor’s antics and trash talking are widely praised and beloved, while Mayweather himself was hated for the same sort of behaviour.
In an interview with FightHype, Mayweather said:
They say he talks a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I do it, they say I’m cocky and arrogant. So biased! Like I said before, all I’m saying is this, I ain’t racist at all, but I’m telling you racism still exists.
AFPAnd the UFC featherweight champion McGregor was typically bold in his response to the undefeated boxer, challenging Mayweather to a fight.
As reported by the Mirror Online, in an Instagram and Facebook post, Mcgregor wrote:
Floyd Mayweather, don’t ever bring race into my success again. I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood.
In my family’s long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name ‘McGregor’ was punishable by death. Do not ever put me in a bracket like this again. If you want we can [organize] a fight no problem.
USA TodayNaturally, there was a caveat, however – McGregor said he’d only offer Mayweather an 80/20 per cent split of the fight purse, as his “last fight bombed at every area of revenue”. Ouch!
As much as we’d love to see these two face off in the ring or the cage, we’re not quite sure when McGregor could fit it into his busy schedule. After all, he’s scheduled to fight UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos in Las Vegas on March 5, as he aims to become the first ever man to hold UFC titles in two different weight classes at the same time.
