There was little to be learned after a predictable outcome to this money-spinning contest in Las Vegas between two proponents of very different disciplinesA bar is, on reflection, the best place to watch a bar fight. Ultimately, for Conor McGregor, there was time for neither much thinking nor a lot of what the Irishman would regard as proper fighting. He roughly doubled his Warholian 15 minutes of fame and considerably enhanced his wealth, while retaining a good deal of dignity in defeat.Yet, from our noisy spot in front of a screen in the Lansdowne Road Bar (where else?) in New York City on Saturday night, it was clear that what mental and physical space Floyd Mayweather allowed the mixed martial...
Most people predicted humiliation for the Irishman on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Instead, his bravery likely guaranteed him even more fame and wealthDeep into the fight that was supposed to be a farce, Conor McGregor swung, staggering the greatest boxer of his generation. Every McGregor punch seemed to come from a place that said he wouldn’t be a joke, a man wading into a world in which he didn’t belong. More than a few times on Saturday night he surprised Floyd Mayweather – and how many boxers have done that in the last 20 years?On the night McGregor was supposed to be exposed as a huckster with a mouth, he won by losing. He won by lasting more than...
Inspired by the Irish star’s upcoming super-fight, Jon Jones says he wants to fight 40-year-old Brock Lesnar. But the chase for money could hurt MMAJon Jones sat and waited from afar for the past two and a half years while UFC’s big-money era started without him. That’s why, mere minutes after his perfect finish of Daniel Cormier on Saturday, Jones moved on from the best performance of his career to the prospect of something — and someone — larger.“Brock Lesnar, if you want to know what it feels like to get your ass kicked by a guy who weighs 40lbs less than you, meet me in the Octagon,” Jones howled, in a statement directed at the pro wrestling star and...
There’s really only one true contest in the fighters’ grab for a dump truck filled with cash: a two-month clash of mouthsFew in sports are taking the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight seriously. Why should they? As boxer Lennox Lewis told ESPN this week: “Mayweather is the best in his weight class, no one can touch him in boxing. He’s a pugilist of the highest order, so for another man from another sport to fight him?” But people will buy. They will buy big. They will buy a lot. They will spend $100 on pay-per-view if that’s what it takes. They will drop $4,000 or $5,000 a ticket and fill Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena and even grab a handful of officially-licensed T-shirts emblazoned...