Mayweather vs. McGregor

On August 26th, the biggest boxing match of 2017 took place. Conor McGregor, the reigning Lightweight UFC Champion, faced off against World Champion professional boxer Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather, now retired, ended his career after the fight with a flawless 50-0 record, while McGregor ended the season with a solid 26 wins and 3 losses. 

During the weeks leading up to the fight, much trash talk was exchanged between the two fighters. At the first press conference — which also happened to be the first time the fighters met — McGregor wore an “insert expletive here” pinstripe suit, and he insulted Mayweather’s style because he showed up in a tracksuit. However, words mean nothing when it comes down to it; actions do. © Instagram/floydmayweather

The first 7 rounds went somewhat well for McGregor, so he could have potentially been winning. McGregor said in an interview, “I felt like I was handed the first four rounds.” However, during the final, the 8th, 9th, and 10th, it went downhill for him. Spectators could tell that during the 8th round that McGregor was starting to run out of gas, while Mayweather continued to go on strong. In the 9th round, McGregor stood on wobbly legs, and he dropped his hands several times, leaving him open to punches from Mayweather. Barely hanging on, he ended the 9th round, and seemed to come back refreshed into the 10th. However, about a minute into the 10th round, he lost his composure, and that did him in. After a strong hook from Mayweather, he started stumbling, leading to a flurry of attacks from Mayweather, and afterward, the referee called the fight with Mayweather winning with a technical knock-out (TKO). While the cameras rushed in to see Conor’s reaction, the audience could hear him saying, “That was early.”  

Nevertheless, there was no bad blood between the two. During Floyd Mayweather’s celebration, Conor McGregor made his way through the crowd that accumulated in the ring and congratulated Floyd on his win. Camera’s caught them hugging, smiling, and congratulating each other on a good fight. While Floyd may have won, Conor did not come out a loser. He landed 111 significant shots on Mayweather — more than professional boxer Manny Pacquiao landed on Mayweather when he faced him 2 years earlier. When Conor was confronted with this fact, he said, “I don’t care about all that…” 

One thing is for sure; as some are saying, no other person in the UFC could last 10 rounds with Floyd Mayweather.