Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather Update: Fight Will Happen According To Freddie Roach, UFC Star Taunts Boxer

What once seemed to be a pipe dream is now the most talked about potential fight in combat sports. Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have discussed the possibility of meeting inside a boxing ring for months, and while the odds are against it becoming a reality, the idea of the super fight won’t go away.

Much of the public negotiating has come from McGregor, who is still looking for his next opponent. Having not fought since he knocked out Eddie Alvarez on Nov. 12 to become the UFC lightweight champion, McGregor continues to weigh his options.

Even though he remains under contract with UFC and isn’t a professional boxer, McGregor is seriously entertaining the idea of competing in the sport that Mayweather has dominated for nearly two decades.

“I mean, that’s the one that everyone wants, that’s the one that makes the most sense,” McGregor told GQ Style last week when asked if he’s hoping to fight Mayweather. “But I’ve no problem going and slapping the head off one of his opponents that he couldn’t finish. All he does is decisions. He can never stop them. So all I have to do is pick some schmuck out that he only could decision, bounce the left hand off his dome, sleep him, and then there you go: It’s already done.”

Making the transition from MMA to boxing, and doing so against the best fighter of his generation, McGregor would have little to no chance of leaving the ring with a win. He contends that he would defeat Mayweather, but with the amount to be made, getting a victory might not be the MMA star’s main concern.

As the biggest name in the UFC, McGregor headlined three pay-per-views in 2016, which likely generated close to four million total buys. In a fight against Mayweather, who retired in September 2015 as boxing’s biggest draw, the two could sell close to that many PPVs in just one night.

McGregor and Mayweather have given different monetary demands in order to make the fight come to fruition. After McGregor asked for $100 million last month, Mayweather made a counter offer.

“We tried to make the Conor McGregor fight,” Mayweather told ESPN’s “First Take.” “They know what my number is. My number is a guaranteed $100 million. That was my number.

“We are willing to give him $15 million and then we can talk about splitting the percentage - the back end - on the pay-per-view. But of course, we’re the ‘A side.’ How can a guy talk about making 20 or 30 million if he has never made 8 or 9 million in a fight?”

McGregor’s largest guaranteed purse was $3 million, though he might have made close to $40 million in total last year. Mayweather has earned $700 million for his 49 career fights, including a guaranteed nine-figure payday for his 2015 fight against Manny Pacquiao.

McGregor continues to taunt Mayweather, calling him “afraid” to make the fight. The undefeated boxer has recently addressed rumors that the bout could be made official in the near future, saying those claims are untrue and he is enjoying his retirement.

One of Mayweather’s biggest adversaries in boxing, however, doesn’t seem to be buying it. Freddie Roach, who trained Pacquiao for his mega-fight against Mayweather two years ago, told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s “The MMA Hour” that it looks like the fight is “gonna happen.”

“I am gonna fight him,” Roach said Mayweather told him about three months ago when the boxer visited him at his gym. “And we can all make a lot of money.”

Despite the perceived hurdles, Roach believes the fight will happen at some point.

“According to Mayweather, yes,” Roach said. “He told me he would fight him. Everything is pointing in that direction right now. At one point, I didn’t think it was possible.”

Whether they ever fight inside a boxing ring or not, McGregor and Mayweather could be trading verbal barbs for the foreseeable future.