Conor McGregor has not yet had time to announce a full return to action after a serious injury received in a duel with Dustin Poirier, but many are already wondering who the Irishman will fight next.
There were reports of his desire to move up to welterweight and fight Kamaru Usman, there were rumors of a meeting with the stripped UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, but an even more unexpected option for the continuation of the career of a mixed martial arts star appeared in the British media.
According to the tabloid The Sun, he intends to rematch with Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
It is noted that the idea to organize a return battle was submitted by an American who offered the opponent a fee of $ 157.9 million. The fight is planned to be held in the weight category up to 70.3 kg and given the status of a professional.
Moreover, McGregor himself allegedly insists on this, eager to inflict the first defeat on Mayweather.
Only the format of the fight is not defined.
The Irishman is reportedly pushing for ten rounds, but there is no consensus yet.
According to the source of the publication, Floyd expects to end his fantastic career on a high note, so he intends to arrange the "biggest boxing evening, which had no analogues."
And after leaving the sport, focus entirely on the promotion of his protege - Gervonta Davis.
At the end of May, he once again defended the title of the regular world champion in lightweight (up to 61.2 kg) in a battle with Rolando Romero and could soon challenge Devin Haney.
Understanding the motivation of the 45-year-old Mayweather is extremely simple.
He is going to "make some noise" in the end and become a participant in one of the most discussed events of the year, earning a couple more hundred million dollars along the way.
Their battle five years ago clearly demonstrated the difference in class between the athletes and there are no prerequisites that since that moment the balance of power has noticeably changed.
Yes, Floyd has become much older, but even at this age he is able to easily outplay Conor in the ring.
And let his not the brightest performances in fights with Logan Paul and Don Moore not be misleading.
For the sake of a professional fight, Mayweather will again bring himself into great shape and will be almost as dangerous as in 2017.
Over the years, he has established himself as a phenomenal professional who never allowed himself to underestimate the enemy.
With McGregor, things are different.
By making loud statements, he was clearly setting the stage for a return to mixed martial arts.
This was confirmed, among other things, by cuts from training sessions in which the Irishman practiced blows with an injured leg, and statements by his mentor John Kavanagh.
In mid-July, he said that Conor had his first grappling sparring in a long time and was pleasantly impressed.
And against the background of all this, the news about a rematch with Mayweather seems extremely illogical.
It can be assumed that McGregor was again attracted by the fee.
In 2017, due to the prospect of making big money, he left mixed martial arts for almost two years, which cost him not only two championship titles, but also a loss in the most important fight.
Even after a long downtime and against the background of serious problems with discipline and alcohol, the Irishman put up decent resistance to Khabib Nurmagomedov and took one round from him.
It is hard to imagine how things could have turned out if he continued to perform on a regular basis.
Of course, defeating the Russian in that fight still seems unlikely, because style-wise, Khabib was a nightmare opponent for Conor.
But he was quite capable of making him even greater competition.
Five years ago, McGregor's decision to try his hand at boxing looked, if a little, but more reasonable.
At the time of the first meeting with Mayweather, he was not even 30 - there was more than enough time ahead for a successful return to MMA, even if he later failed to properly dispose of it.
However, at that time it was extremely short-sighted to miss the chance to earn a lot of money and increase your media exposure at times.
Conor was a world famous athlete before the boxing match, but during his promotion he gained superstar status.
Yes, and he used the funds received for the performance properly, opening his own business.
Then McGregor systematically developed his own brand, simultaneously promoting mixed martial arts to the masses.
Now it seems that he does not understand what he really wants.
On the one hand, the Irishman is eager to avenge recent defeats and return to the top again.
And this is an extremely ambitious goal, because almost no one has been able to do this before.
Among men, the legendary Randy Couture stands apart.
In 2000, at the age of 37, he won the heavyweight title for the first time, and seven years later he regained it.
In women, Carla Esparza can boast of a similar achievement.
But in this case, it is necessary to make an adjustment for the competition in the minimum weight, and for how she got the title.
To achieve this in the current lightweight division is a daunting task.
It is filled with the strongest athletes, and many of them are either extremely inconvenient for McGregor or have already taken over him.
The same Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev are noticeably superior to him in the fight, and Poirier defeated Conor twice in the last two years.
Yes, in both cases, the Irishman was prevented by problems with his leg, but this does not change the essence of the matter.
Both fights were clearly not according to his scenario.
In turn, the transition to the welterweight category is completely akin to suicide.
Although lately McGregor has noticeably added muscle mass, it is almost impossible to imagine him fighting on equal terms with Usman.
He utterly surpasses him in "physics" and wrestling skills, and in percussion technique he has become noticeably more dangerous.
Remember at least how he knocked out Jorge Masvidal, another mixed martial arts star.
But if all this can be justified by the desire to prove something to the whole world and get closer to repeating the achievement of Couture, then the revenge with Mayweather clearly has nothing to do with ambition and sports.
By agreeing to this, McGregor will again choose the money.
Only this time he will no longer have even a theoretical chance to revive his career and try to have the last word in MMA.
Apparently, Dana White also thinks the same way, who harshly criticized the idea of organizing a return fight between McGregor and Mayweather.
He not only called it nonsense, but also assured that under no circumstances would he contribute to this revenge.
And there is reason to believe that in this case he can be guided not only by selfish goals.
For many years, the UFC president called the Irishman his favorite fighter and treated him very warmly.
And in the MMA world, everyone knows how he treats those he cares about.
In this context, we can mention Chuck Liddell, another championship legend.
At one time, White acted as his manager, and after a long joint work in the UFC, he called him a friend and one of the best people you can meet in life.
And when he noticeably passed and suffered three defeats in a row by knockout, Dana insisted on his retirement from the sport and appointed him to the position of vice president of business development promotion.
And all this so that he does not experience problems with money and is not tempted to return to the octagon again.
Subsequently, White still could not save him from this.
In 2018, the almost 49-year-old Liddell fought Tito Ortiz for the third time and suffered a crushing defeat.
However, White himself did not have a hand in this and, to the last, tried to dissuade the American from the fight.
It is possible that even now he is trying to protect McGregor from another wrong decision.
The only question is whether the Irishman will listen to him and continue the systematic preparation for returning to mixed martial arts or will he again run for a big check.
One way or another, it is in the coming months that McGregor's future in sports will be decided.
And one more mistake can finally put an end to his career.