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Conor McGregor blasts Floyd Mayweather and his 'manager' after recent comments
Conor McGregor never bites his tongue when asked a question about a potential opponent and that philosophy seems to extend to their representation as well.
Just recently, McGregor received his boxing license in the state of California with the UFC champion planning to apply for licenses in other prominent states like Nevada, New York and Texas as well.
As soon as word got out that McGregor had a boxing license, Leonard Ellerbe — CEO of Mayweather Promotions and close friend to Floyd Mayweather — fired back at the notion that this somehow meant the two combat sports superstars were headed for a showdown.
Ellerbe went on a rant saying McGregor's boxing license was nothing more than a "con job" and even mentioning him in the same breath as Mayweather was "disrespectful".
Over the weekend, McGregor fired back at Ellerbe while also taking shots at Mayweather, who he says went running when he heard that the Irishman had a boxing license that could signal a fight between them actually happening.
"(Expletive) Floyd's manager," McGregor shouted to a raucous crowd in Belfast, Northern Ireland. "Tell him to come say it to me face. I've got the boxing license. Now Floyd's in the Bahamas. He was just there a minute ago then I get the boxing license and he's gone.
"Look, Floyd's a phenomenal boxer. It's a different craft for me to go in and do this but with correct preparation, if I took out my jiu-jitsu training, my wrestling training, my kickboxing training — if I took out all those different disciplines and focused with the work ethic that I have solely on the sport of boxing, there's no telling what I could do."
Speculation has run rampant throughout 2016 that McGregor might be the fighter who Mayweather would consider coming out of retirement to face considering it would probably be one of the biggest combat sports events of all time.
Never have two athletes at the top of their respective sports like McGregor and Mayweather met in a fight so the stakes would be very high if they ever actually climbed into a ring to face each other.
Of course, odds makers have already weighed in on the matter by making Mayweather — who retired undefeated at 49-0 — a massive favorite in any potential fight with McGregor.
While there's no doubt about the financial reward that McGregor would net to face Mayweather regardless of victory or defeat, he says this isn't a cash grab and he would absolutely go into the ring with the intention of handing the former boxing champion his first professional loss.
"I would not go in there just to show up. I'd go in there to knock him out and that's it," McGregor said. "He can be hit. He's been hit before. Age waits for no man also so I know they know that. I know that size is on my side. I know the reach is on my side. I know the youth is on my side."
Mayweather was actually the one responsible for starting the rumor earlier this year that he may fight McGregor if he comes out of retirement.
That rumor is what originally got McGregor's attention but he says in reality he's not concerned about Mayweather or how much he does or doesn't want this fight now that there's even a remote possibility that it could happen.
"Originally, what happened was Floyd called me out. That's originally what happened. I don't care about Floyd. I don't give a (expletive) about Floyd," McGregor said. "I don't fear no man under no rule set. So I'm sitting there minding my own business dominating through fighting and Floyd calls me out and leaks a rumor that we're supposed to fight or something like that.
"But what I done was it opened up my eyes a little bit — well, hold on, maybe I can pursue the boxing side. Maybe there's something there. So we went to it. We're in the background with negotiations, we'll see what happens. Now I have my boxing license. Now it's their move now. I've presented myself, now I have the boxing license."
McGregor says now that he's got his boxing license, Mayeather is starting to figure out that this fight might really happen and he wants no part of it. So if Mayweather isn't interested, McGregor says there are plenty of other boxers he would be interested in facing in the future.
"There's a lot to lose for them so that's why they're scrambling. They're scrambling right now but that's OK. I'll leave them scrambling," McGregor said about Mayweather. "I've got some other boxing opportunities, some potential opponents in mind, some previous Floyd opponents.
"I can bring in anybody in the game so we'll see what happens."
