What’s the story?
The stories and rumours of a Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor matchup have been circulating for a while now. Now it’s reported that the delay of the 1 billion dollar fight is the result of navigating certain legal issues and contract constraints.
Mayweather, who had allegedly retired, has been only been feeding the flames of the possible matchup to an eager public. Not one to shy away from the public spotlight, he has tweaked the press here or there and tweeted an occasional tantalising statement indicating a fight would take place.
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There’s been no shortage of reasons for postponing the matchup, either, but for now, they’re claiming legal issues between the two camps.
McGregor is the current undisputed star of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is keen for a matchup, as is Mayweather, who still remains unbeaten during his 49-fight pro career. Public interest has reached a fever pitch and is at an all-time high, as is the money involved.
This is said to be the only 1 billion dollar fight out there, so there’s a lot at stake.
Once you start talking that kind of money for a potential super-fight, it’s a real nightmare of legal questions, negotiations and administrative challenges. That seems to be the only holdup at this stage of discussions according to ESPN.
In case you didn’t know…
This story just isn’t going away and Mayweather vs. McGregor has dominated sports headlines for months now and now it’s down to the question of if such a fight is really legal.
That was addressed by Jake Cohen, a lawyer for Mills & Reeve who specialises in legal, commercial and regulatory matters in the sport, when he spoke to The Independent regarding some of the legal matters that are standing in the way.
While Mayweather, who recently retired after Michael Buffer called his last fight, from boxing and is free from contractual agreements has the luxury of controlling his own destiny, McGregor isn’t in the same position. The Irish fighter may be the UFC’s biggest asset, but he is also their employee and as such bound to a contract with the organisation.
The heart of the matter
The exact terms of McGregor’s contract are not in the public domain, but what is known is that he might not even be contractually free to participate in such a fight. However, because of a legal dispute with Bellator, Eddie Alvarez’s contract became public, which revealed an exclusivity clause which is speculated to be in every other UFC contract including, McGregor’s.
The clause reads:
“During the Term, ZUFFA shall have the exclusive right to promote all of Fighter's bouts and Fighter shall not participate in or render his services as a professional fighter or in any other capacity to any other mixed martial art, martial art, boxing, professional wrestling, or any other fighting competition or exhibition, except as otherwise expressly permitted by this Agreement.”
What’s next?
This indicates that McGregor may not even be contractually free to fight Mayweather until these issues are resolved.
Sportskeeda’s take
This at least gives a good idea of the obstacles the McGregor team is currently facing and may be moving the possibility of a Mayweather vs McGregor super-fight more of a reality.
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