The UFC has reportedly entered into talks with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions to negotiate a potential boxing match between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and retired boxing great Floyd Mayweather. The target date is reportedly by early fall.
The more surprising tidbit from the Los Angeles Times report that broke the news about negotiations is that UFC president Dana White, despite his very public presence in discussing the fight, doesn’t appear to be part of the talks.
According to the Los Angeles Times, an unnamed official familiar with the situation confirmed that discussions were underway between UFC owner Ari Emanuel’s WME-IMG and Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, but noted that White was not involved in the talks.
White had previously stated that a deal between the UFC and McGregor on their side of the fight had been completed, paving the way to open negotiations with Mayweather’s team. He also said that they had been targeting a Sept. 16 date, but the recent announcement of a marquee boxing match between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez on that date forced them to reconsider a target date.
The Los Angeles Times report specially stated that WME-IMG is still targeting an “early fall” date for the proposed fight.
