Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather is the Biggest Pro Wrestling Angle in Decades - and Trust Me, It IS Fake

I doubt combat sports are too popular in the Steemit community, but since this happens to be on my mind, I'll post about it.

An estimated - although in my view exaggerated - 7,000,000 buys on PPV with a price tag of $100 a buy.

Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather will without a doubt go down as one of the largest sporting events of all time, and will remain as such long into the future.

There was always so much money to be made with this fight that it was a guaranteed to go down eventually, and it's a fun gimmick, sure, but as a fan of combat sports in general, I do find a circus act like this to be somewhat offensive. Or at the very least annoying.

I'm sure a lot of people don't even remember, or know about, this but in 1976 Muhammad Ali took on Antonio Inoki in what many consider to be the official birth of mixed martial arts as a sport. The gimmick then was that a pro wrestler, Inoki, would fight a boxer, Ali. Back then, there was a lot of confusion about whether the fight would be a wrestling match, or a boxing match, and the end result was something of a hybrid between the two. The fight was less than exciting since a lot of people didn't understand what was going on, and only later on people have found appreciation for the fight.

This whole ordeal somewhat reminds of the fight between Ali and Inoki, although it is a different animal for sure. Both competitors come from a legit fighting sport, and there's confusion over the rules of the fight.

Though above when I said this will go down as a gigantic sporting event, you can put the sporting event in quotations, since in actuality the fight is anything but a legitimate sporting event.

Now I will say that I'm not one of those people who immediately write McGregor off as having 0 chance of winning, since I've followed combat sports for long enough to know that anything can happen, theoretically.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still saying 95% Mayweather, and it's most likely due to a landslide points win, but the 5% grey area has to do with McGregor's age, size, the fact that he's a southpaw - and Mayweather has had trouble with southpaws before - and the possibility of a perfectly timed fluke left hand.

What also needs to be noted is that Mayweather has been in retirement, and has not been in a boxing ring in a while.

But with that said, Mayweather is still the overwhelming favorite to win. And it's not even close to being, well, close.

The fact is that Floyd Mayweather is - off the top of my head - 24-0 against world champion boxers, with a total record of 49-0, and he's going against a guy who has never boxed.

Both are doing their hardest to sell you on the idea that's it a competitive fight between two tough guys, but the actual fight will most likely be nothing but competitive, and Mayweather is going 50-0.

The interesting thing, to me, about this fight is that it's so pro wrestling. There are so many smoke and mirrors surrounding this fight, with all the hype, that it reminds me a lot of pro wrestling from days gone by.

Sure, Conor is saying that he'll bet his entire purse that he's winning, but of course he's full of shit and he won't, he knows that win, lose or draw he's going to be making so much money that he can retire and do whatever the fuck he pleases for the rest of his life.

What's also interesting about this is that after watching the two press conferences, it became clear to me that Mayweather is not as charismatic as he's made out to be. He's a great soundbyte guy, you can build great TV specials and hype videos around him, but as an actual promo, as in these press conferences, he's not a great promo.

At least not in my eyes. I haven't even been that impressed with the press conferences, personally. A lot of people have been, so maybe it's just me, but I felt that Mayweather is not a great promo, period, and McGregor was out of his element, and even seemed a tad bit nervous, which is unusual for him.

I think Mayweather is just glad that there's finally someone in this situation with him who can carry all the hype, and he doesn't have to do much. All he has to do is basically have a match with a complete amateur and collect the money.

Not a bad day to be Floyd Mayweather.

I just find it ironic that such an obviously fake pro wrestling angle is generating this much hype from the same people who always mock pro wrestling for being fake. Yes, the fight will be a shoot, but everything else surrounding it is a work.

And the MMA fanboys - and that's not an insult, I can be called one - will pay $100 to see the fight, because they've been sold this pro wrestling angle where McGregor is the babyface, and Floyd Mayweather is the heel, and they want so badly to see their babyface hero prevail and vanquish the evil heel.

I've noticed that in the boxing world, the situation is understood much better. People in boxing know what's up - at least moreso than people in MMA - they know the thing is a fake hype show, and just enjoy the ride.

But MMA fans are buying into the hype, eating up the work, and are lead like a bunch of sheep.

Now, I'm not saying it's a bad or a wrong thing to be excited over the fight, it's a unique spectacle.

But to claim that it's a legitimate sporting combat sports contest is pretty laughable. It's an awesome extravaganza, but it does take away from the legitimacy of combat sports.

It's the same reason I'm against side shows and circus acts in combat sports in general. Such as CM Punk making his MMA debut in the UFC last year. Or the fact that Kimbo Slice was still allowed to fight in Bellator last year.

But hey, in the end it's the entertainment that sells the show.

It doesn't matter whether it's pro wrestling, boxing or MMA, big personalities draw money, and the casuals will eat it up like there's no tomorrow.

I'm saying the fight is 95% Mayweather with a 5% chance of a McGregor fluke.

But in the end, both men are winners, both men will be make so much money that you can't even dream of such amounts, both men scammed you, and both men played you like a fiddle - and both men walk out of this having worked you into believing in a pro wrestling angle.

But it's kinda cool, actually. Despite news to th contrary, pro wrestling is alive and well!