Dana White hints at another collaboration with Floyd Mayweather

Dana White hints at another collaboration with Floyd Mayweather as UFC president shares photo with boxing great and Rizin chief Nobuyuki Sakakibara… almost four years after American defeated Conor McGregor in a mega-money crossover bout

  • Dana White has hinted at a collaboration with boxing star Floyd Mayweather 
  • White shared a photo with Mayweather and Rizin chief Nobuyuki Sakakibara  
  • UFC supremo White and 44-year-old Mayweather worked together in 2017
  • The pair arranged the money-spinning crossover fight with Conor McGregor 
  • Mayweather and White have hinted at the notion of working together again 

Dana White has teased that he could be working with Floyd Mayweather again after the UFC supremo shared a photo with the boxing great and the current president of Rizin Fighting Federation, Nobuyuki Sakakibara.

White, 51, has hinted at a possible collaboration with Mayweather, having worked with the undefeated boxer when making the mega-money Conor McGregor bout in 2017.

Mayweather, 44, has since enjoyed a lucrative exhibition bout with Japanese promotion Rizin in which he knocked out martial artist Tenshin Nasukawa on New Year’s Eve in 2018.

Dana White has teased a link up with Floyd Mayweather and Rizin chief Nobuyuki Sakakibara

And the UFC chief has uploaded a photo with Mayweather and Rizin chief Sakakibara overnight, alongside the caption ‘HOOOOOOOLY S***!!!!!! WTF is goin [sic] on here’. 

Sakakibara tweeted that White’s arrival was impromptu, with the Japanese only due to meet Mayweather this week.

‘When I was having a meeting with Mayweather, I was surprised when Dana appeared when I was told, ‘I have a guy who wants to see Sakakibara from now on, so I’ll call him by phone”,’ he tweeted. 

UFC chief White worked with boxing great Mayweather for the Conor McGregor bout in 2017

White, 51, and Mayweather, 44, have not been shy in expressing their desire to work together

‘It’s been about 15 years since I met him again [but he is] one of the guys I wanted to meet back in the industry. Something may be born by chance!’

White and Mayweather have not been shy in expressing their desire to collaborate again following the huge success of the McGregor bout, in which Mayweather reportedly pocketed roughly £200m.

The pair were spotted courtside for Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Clippers in LA in 2019 amid reports that Mayweather was targeting two fights the following year.

‘We sat at the Clippers game. We started talking and we literally got a deal done right there on the court,’ White said of the encounter. 

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz claimed the Dagestani received a £72m offer to fight Mayweather

‘We shook hands. We have a deal. And if things play out the way Floyd and I think they will, I’ll probably sit down with Al Haymon in March and get a deal on paper.’

However, the coronavirus pandemic dashed hopes of Mayweather returning to combat sports, with White revealing earlier this year that plans had been put on hold. 

‘The world imploded [due to COVID-19] after we were talking about doing some things together,’ he said. ‘I’m just focused on running my business right now.’

Mayweather worked with Rizin in 2018 and the implication is that White could work with them

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, claimed that his fighter was offered £72m to fight Mayweather. The Dagestani’s retirement has ended any notion of the pair meeting in the octagon or the boxing ring.  

The return of crowds to UFC live events, though, could entice the 44-year-old to entertain a fight with a star from White’s stable and the revelation that the pair have met alongside Sakakibara would suggest that talks are back underway.

Spectators are set to return for UFC 261 later this month, with the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida reportedly sold out.

The American has agreed to take on YouTuber Logan Paul. The pair were set to meet in February but the bout was postponed, with a new date yet to be announced. 

Paul, 26, has fought just once professionally, when he lost to fellow influencer KSI in Los Angeles in November 2019. 




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