McGregor-Mayweather will not happen. Here’s why...
Can Conor McGregor fight Floyd Mayweather without the UFC’s ok? The question is almost as annoying as whether Ronda Rousey should fight a man. Despite the ridiculousness of the question, we take a look.
As Bloody Elbow points out, there is a scenario in which its plausible that McGregor could find his way out of his UFC contract and meet Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. Of course, the scenario would take the course of a lawsuit. And while everyone thinks that’s a pretty feasible scenario. One has to look at the practical issues related to obtaining a boxing license, filing a declaratory judgment for McGregor to get out of his UFC and/or addressing a lawsuit that would inevitably filed by the UFC for breach of contract as well as its own injunction that would prevent a fight between the two.
Clearly the boxing license issue is the least of the worries. Rather than wait for a UFC lawsuit, if McGregor and Mayweather are really interested in a fight, they’d probably file a lawsuit against the UFC seeking a declaratory judgment requesting a court to allow McGregor to fight despite his contract with the company. The court of choice would be an interesting one. I
A venue in Nevada seems appropriate considering the UFC’s headquarters are in the state. A question of state or federal is also an issue. If McGregor decides to seek relief utilizing the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act (“Ali Act”) as suggested by BE, the venue would have to be in federal court in Vegas (the same venue as the current UFC antitrust lawsuit).
So the question is whether McGregor could possibly sue under the Ali Act? It’s likely that while the argument that McGregor (as a licensed boxer) could seek relief under the Ali Act sounds plausible, it’s unlikely that a court would grant McGregor such relief.
Definitely McGregor’s supporters would hope for a broad interpretation of Section 10 of the Ali Act which indicates it a restraint of trade for a coercive contract. However, the coercive contract that is in question and that we try to litigate is the UFC contract, not another boxing contract. And that is the problem.
The purpose and intent of the Ali Act is clearly for boxing. And while there is the possibility of amending the Ali Act to include MMA incubating, the Ali Act does not cover MMA. Any argument that an MMA contract is coercive and thus should be deemed void or voidable under the Ali Act would be dismissed. As stated, attorneys for the UFC would simply argue that the Ali Act does not pertain to MMA and any safe harbor that McGregor might seek to find to nullify his UFC contract should be dismissed.
Clearly, none of us think that Mayweather/McGregor is happening. But, since I was asked about the question, I thought it would be interesting to look at. While the legal strategy seems sound, in the end, the practicality of a lawsuit and actually prevailing on the merits would be a longshot. If this were to actually happen, one would think that the UFC would have to permit this to happen which would mean being, at least, a co-promoter in the event. If you thought a Mayweather/Pacquiao negotiation was tough, think of what Mayweather/McGregor would be like.
But let’s be honest, the legal process would take years and years before seeing an actual fight. I would see McGregor making amends with the UFC before this ever happens.
