In late January, the legendary boxer hinted that he’s interested in swapping codes and trying his hand at mixed martial arts.
The Olympic bronze medallist’s revelation, which came in the form of videos on his Instagram page, immediately led to talk of a rematch with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who beat in a boxing match last August.
In order to rematch ’The Notorious’ inside the cage, Mayweather must first be granted a license to practice mixed martial arts, a permit he currently doesn’t have.
“Not yet, not yet,” he told TMZ when asked if he’d applied for an MMA license. “But everything takes time.
“Eventually, we’re gonna apply for the license, and hopefully we can fight.”
Mayweather plans on starting his MMA training in the near future and could enlist the help of current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who has offered to help the Michigan native make the transition over from boxing.
The former five-weight world champion is under no illusion that learning the tricks of the MMA trade will be an easy task and is willing to train for as long as it takes to become proficient at the sport.
“It’ll probably need a little bit longer (than three months),” he added.
“Even if it takes 6 to 8 months – whatever it takes.
“We want to make sure that everything is done correctly, and everything is done the right way.”
Many in the MMA world believe Mayweather should steer clear of fighting McGregor inside the Octagon.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan agrees with that notion and reckons he should pursue a fight with fellow MMA rookie CM Punk.
“It’s the only fight to make for Floyd cause Conor will literally kill him,” he said during a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.
“It wouldn’t be fair. It’s not fair.
“People would understand the difference between Conor boxing Floyd where he got clearly outclassed but he hit him.”
The chances of Mayweather fighting McGregor in the UFC in the near future are relatively low as the latter is expected to fight the winner of Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov, which headlines UFC 223 on April 7.
