UFC boss Dana White sets deadline for Conor McGregor negotiations to fight Floyd Mayweather

by samsurikamal

UFC President Dana White insists he’s not going to wait much longer for progress in negotiations for a Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing match.

White today said that if he can’t get McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and his team to agree to terms by Sunday, he plans to move on from the matchup with Mayweather (49-0 boxing) altogether. If he gets things sorted with McGregor, though, then he will move on to talks with Mayweather.

“I plan on having this thing locked up by this Sunday and then moving on to Team Mayweather and start to negotiate with them,” White told “The Jim Rome Show” on CBS Sports Radio. “If we really do get it done in that timeframe, then this thing could possibly happen. Again, I still have to go negotiate with them. There’s no guarantee that we’re going to come to a deal.”

Talks of a McGregor vs. Mayweather fight began this past November after McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to become the first in UFC history to hold multiple titles simultaneously. It’s picked up real steam in recent months, though, with White declaring he’s going to do everything he can to get a deal done and bring the bout to fruition.

McGregor was clear following UFC 205 that he wasn’t planning to return to any type of combat sports until the birth of his first child. That happened this past week. But soon after, it was revealed the proposed bout lost it’s targeted Sept. 16 fight date when a boxing mega-fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin was announced for the same date.

“That was the date we were shooting for,” White said. “I was doing an interview earlier and they said, ‘Well the MGM says you hadn’t held the date.’ We hadn’t – we hadn’t held the date. But that’s the date we were shooting for. … I didn’t see any big fights coming up that we couldn’t have took the date from if they ended up with that date.

“Then they come up with Canelo and ‘GGG,’ which is a real fight. That’s a fight I’ll actually buy tickets for and go to myself. So, yeah, life waits for nobody. We should have moved faster, we should have moved further along in the negotiations, and it’s our own fault.”

Although White absorbs the blame for not locking in Sept. 16 sooner, he said not all hope is lost. The clock apparently is ticking, though, and an agreement with McGregor needs to be finalized before the end of the weekend.

That deadline might seem soon, but White said he feels it’s doable. That’s just one half of the work that needs to be done, though, and White said reaching a deal with Mayweather could be an entirely different animal.

“I think (the chances of a deal with McGregor) are pretty good,” White said. “Hopefully Monday I’m going to sit down and negotiate with Team Mayweather. I just can’t keep messing with this thing. I have to run my business and I have to focus on all the other things that are going on around here.”For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.