Does Floyd Mayweather Need Conor McGregor More Than UFC Needs Him?

In recent weeks, the much-ballyhooed Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing match-up has gone from a far-off dream to now only being a legitimate possibility with an absolute mountain of roadblocks to surpass for it to actually happen.

By now the story has been discussed over and again, with McGregor obtaining his boxing license in California before Mayweather offered him an insulting million to his 0 million, and then Dana White famously countering with an offer of million plus pay-per-view points for both men.

Mayweather scoffed at the offer like everyone expected him to – yet there’s a strong very strong argument to be made that it’s “Money” who needs the UFC more than they need him to lock up one more monstrous payday before he heads off into the sunset with hopefully a 50-0 record in tow. UFC commentator Jon Anik recently appeared on Bruce Buffer’s podcast (via Bloody Elbow), and while he and Buffer are UFC employees who will side with their employer through thick and thin, Anik nonetheless raised an interesting point – even if it was just for discussion.

Take a look and see if you think it has any merit:

“I feel like everybody focused on Dana White saying $25 million. But they really should’ve focused on what else he said, which is the fact that the biggest fight Floyd Mayweather has right now, is Conor McGregor. That’s the fight he needs. There’s really no other fight for Floyd Mayweather right now that going to command 2, if not 3 million pay-per-view buys. So tell me who needs who?

“Certainly Conor could realize the biggest payday of his career, but he can fight Nate Diaz and all these other guys, and make 25, 30, if not 40 million. Floyd needs Conor and the UFC a lot more than they need him right now.”

While it’s tough to lend full legitimacy to Anik’s words due to his alliance, the concept, in a vacuum, may be at least somewhat valid. Case in point, Mayweather’s last fight, a September 2015 decision win over the lesser-known Andre Berto, gained an alarmingly low number of paying viewers after Mayweather largely let the entire world down with his ultra-safe win over Manny Pacquiao in the supposed “boxing fight of the century” in May of that year.

That proved Mayweather may no longer be able to sell a massive pay-per-view (PPV) card on his own without an equally admired foil, and McGregor would most certainly play that part to perfection, even if he hasn’t officially fought in a professional boxing bout. And even though “Money” has a truly legitimate claim to be one of it not the best boxers of all-time, at the end of the day combat sports fans want to see knockouts and he rarely delivers them.

McGregor obviously does that for fans on a consistent basis. His trash talk and over-the-top persona rub just as many fans the wrong way as they do bring admirers to his side, but love or hate him, McGregor comes to finish fights. He also promotes a rivalry like no other MMA fighter has before, making him the most sought-after opponent in the UFC. There are several rivalries out there for him, be it with Nate Diaz, Tyron Woodley, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Jose Aldo, or even the biggest fight out there – a super fight with former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

McGregor is currently on hiatus awaiting the birth of his first child, so there’s no telling which of these rivalries we’ll actually see him take part in, or when they will happen. Yet any one of those would be must-see cards where McGregor would earn in the tens of millions for. With Mayweather offering the potential for less than that, McGregor doesn’t need “Money’s” money right now. Mayweather’s only path to one last huge bout, as ridiculous as it sounds, goes through McGregor whether he likes it or not.

He even admitted it.

Without a true fellow superstar in boxing to match him, the opposite is true – Mayweather needs McGregor more than they need him.