Earlier this week, undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather made some statements eluding to the amount of racism that is in combat sports such as his own and Mixed Martial Arts. In it, he shared that white fighters are sometimes thrusted into the spotlight with only a small amount of success as opposed to their Black counterparts, citing UFC star Ronda Rousey as an example.
He went on to mention UFC’s featherweight champion Conor McGregor, who is also rising in popularity following his 13 second defeat of Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in December. Speaking on the Irish fighter, Floyd said that McGregor is praised for his cockiness whereas he is chastised for his.
They say he talks a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I’m cocky and arrogant,” Mayweather said. “So biased! Like I said before, all I’m saying is this: I ain’t racist at all, but I’m telling you racism still exists.
McGregor didn’t take those claims lightly as he took to his Instagram and directly addressed the comments and challenging Mayweather.
Floyd Mayweather, don’t ever bring race into my success again. I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood.
In my family’s long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name ‘McGregor’ was punishable by death. Do not ever put me in a bracket like this again.
If you want we can organise a fight no problem. I will give you a fair 80/20 split purse in my favour seen as your last fight bombed at every area of revenue.
Floyd had a well publicized back and forth with Ronda Rousey all throughout 2015, and though the two would never be able to square off due to obvious reasons, McGregor’s outright challenge to Mayweather is on the table for discussion. We’ll see how this goes. Check Conor McGregor’s full post below.