Fear not UFC fans.
Conor McGregor is set to make in excess of $100 million from his professional boxing debut against none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr. Former UFC star Brendan Schaub is confident it will be the last we see of ‘The Notorious’ in a boxing ring for the foreseeable future.
Schaub believes Mayweather will eventually get the better of McGregor when the pair face off in Las Vegas on August 26. He believes the Dubliner will certainly test the unbeaten Mayweather but does not expect him to start pursuing other pro boxing bouts.
John Kavanagh, McGregor’s coach, says his fighter is intent on a December return to the UFC. After that, few can confidently predict where he will go next.
Schaub is extremely confident though. It is hard to deny his reasoning. He said:
“Here’s the problem – his contract is not going to allow him to. The UFC are not going to allow him to do another boxing fight. You will never see him fight in boxing again.”
Schaub points out that the ‘Ali Act’, which would allow fighters to compete in different disciplines, has not been officially sanctioned yet so that avenue is currently closed. He continued:
“The only reason this fight was allowed to happen is because he worked with the UFC. If he were to go against [them], they’re going to tie him up in litigation for so long he’ll fight [again] when his nuts are down to the ground, like Chuck Liddell. He’s 45.Â
“They’ll tie him up in court. He was smart working with the UFC on this. It would have got really, really ugly and really fast.”
Schaub has a very strong argument here. Even high-profile fighters such as Georges-St-Pierre have found their way blocked when they tried to get out of UFC contracts.
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As Dana White revealed earlier this year, McGregor has four fights left on his current contract.
As confident as Schaub is with his prediction, the UFC lightweight champion could well run out his contract by taking on those four bouts by early 2019. After that, he could be in a position to pursue other fighting interests.
This may well be as once off but, where McGregor is concerned, never say never.
