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Dana White argues Conor McGregor losing to Floyd Mayweather doesn't hurt him or the UFC
Conor McGregor has been gunning for a fight with Floyd Mayweather and now he's finally got his wish as the two combat sports superstars meet on Aug. 26 in Las Vegas.
Odds for the rumored fight have been swirling for over a year with Mayweather consistently sitting as a massive favorite over McGregor, who has never boxed professionally, and now he's stepping into the ring with one of the best to ever do it.
Many boxing analysts have said that McGregor will get schooled in a fight with Mayweather, and mixed martial arts experts don't seem to be giving him a much better chance than that either.
So what happens if McGregor goes into the ring with Mayweather and just gets dominated for 12 rounds or even suffers a knockout to the multi-time boxing champion? Does it hurt McGregor's status as one of the top fighters in the world? Does it damage the UFC to see one of its champions getting slaughtered on a big stage for a fight of this magnitude?
"No, absolutely not," White said about a potential McGregor loss impacting him or the UFC long term. "At the end of the day, these two guys wanted this fight, the fans wanted this fight and Conor is a mixed martial artist. He's going into a boxing match with arguably the greatest boxer of all time.
"I don’t think it damages the brand or Conor McGregor at all. I think it actually elevates Conor McGregor."
White argues that McGregor even taking this fight is a huge reason why people love watching him compete so much because he shows no fear in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
"The fact that this kid who has so much to lose is willing to step in and is absolutely confident that he will win this fight. I think it's one of the many reasons that people love Conor McGregor," White explained.
"Win, lose or draw it'll be one of the reasons people will continue to love Conor McGregor."
As far as McGregor's chances go, White isn't going to pretend that the reigning UFC lightweight champion is going to pick up enough skills over the next two months to simply out box Mayweather over 12 rounds.
Instead, White looks at specific weapons that McGregor possesses that could give Mayweather headaches once they step into the ring together.
"Is he at the level of a Floyd Mayweather as far as boxing standards go? No," White said. "But the kid first of all is a southpaw. People can argue one way or another, Floyd traditionally, if you ever wanted to say there's ever been a kink in the armor with that kid, it's with southpaw and Conor McGregor is an absolute knockout artist. When he hits you, you go.
"So it's part of the fun of this fight. Is Conor McGregor in a 12-round fight gonna be able to touch Floyd Mayweather?"
While White says a loss won't hurt McGregor, he does believe that pulling off a win against Mayweather will shoot his star status to another level than he's ever experienced before.
It's part of the reason why White loves that McGregor wanted this matchup and that Mayweather accepted — both fighters are putting everything on the line.
"If you look at how big this fight is and you look at how big both of these athletes are that are involved in this fight, if Conor does knock Floyd Mayweather out, he is the biggest athlete on Earth. He's the biggest athlete anywhere, on other planets he's the biggest athlete. It's pretty crazy," White said.
"But it's one of the things I always say about Conor and now you can say it about Floyd too, when you go out and you put everything on the line, I've said this about Floyd for many years — he loves money but that record is actually more important than money. For him to go out and risk that 49-0 against a guy like Conor, props to both guys for making the fight."
