Though the highly talked about the match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather still hasn’t become official, other members of the UFC community have started to voice their opinions on the possible crossover match. Lightweight fighter Jim Miller showed support for the fight, but also mentioned a concern for what it’s meant for the UFC lightweight division.
With so much of his attention focused on the fight against Floyd, McGregor hasn’t shown much interest in matches within the division or defending his titles.
“We don’t know what the champ’s doing and when he’s going to be back or any of this stuff,” he said. “The guy’s [won] two belts but he hasn’t defended either one of them, which is frustrating. As a competitor, even though it’s not holding me up at this point, I had my opportunity [to contend]. If it hadn’t been for injuries and rematches and stuff like that I would have already had an opportunity at the title. The sport’s all about timing and it sucks seeing guys screwed over [by McGregor’s inactivity] a little bit.”
Miller also went on to discuss the fight, regardless of the influence it’s had over the UFC. He sees it as a positive endeavor that will bring publicity to both fighting universes but thinks all UFC fighters should be granted this opportunity. UFC President Dana White made it very clear that this would be the one and only crossover fight he’d allow since it doesn’t project too many gains from the business perspective. Miller strongly disagreed with this decision; specifically focusing on the financial payoff McGregor will see.
“It’s all about making money,” he said. “I can’t knock the guy for making money. He’s got this golden opportunity, it’s his right to go after it. Now, the UFC allowing it to happen, the UFC driving it to happen is a little bit screwed up, but you know, it brings attention to the UFC. They don’t care if it holds up the division. I don’t know. If he can make more than he has in his UFC fights for boxing, go for it. But then we all should be able to do stuff like that. I’ve always wanted to do kickboxing. I’ve watched some of [those fights] and a three-minute round sounds friggin’ awesome.”
“If they’re going to allow him to compete in another sport that’s not MMA – obviously not fighting for another promotion in MMA – then we should all get the opportunity to.”
Miller makes a strong argument. Plus, if the fight is commercially successful, White may change his mind and see the benefits of making crossover fights a norm and something that everyone has a shot at.
Featured Image via Wikimedia
