The much-hyped Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor superfight isn't official yet, but it's becoming much more realistic.
The NAC's calendar entry for the event reads: “Mayweather Promotions will promote a professional boxing event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. This event will be televised on Showtime.”
On June 10, the Las Vegas Review-Journal ran a short piece teasing that a Mayweather-McGregor deal could be close. A day later, McGregor sent out a message across multiple social media platforms, posed in a blue fur-trimmed parka: “Something BIG is coming.”
Something BIG is coming #BP pic.twitter.com/Rm9L66FkfZ
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 11, 2017
In and of itself, a date for Mayweather Promotions at the MGM Grand does not necessarily mean it is a Floyd Mayweather fight. However, a report on Monday evening by ESPN's Dan Rafael and Brett Okamoto confirmed with a source that Mayweather Promotions does in fact plan to request Aug. 26 from the NAC as the date and MGM Grand as the venue for a hypothetical Mayweather-McGregor showdown.
NAC Executive Director Bob Bennett told ESPN that Mayweather has yet to apply for a boxing license ahead of the proposed date, while McGregor's application is “incomplete for the time being.”
Mayweather, 40, last fought in September 2015 when he easily outpointed Andre Berto over 12 rounds to retain his The Ring Magazine and lineal welterweight titles and move to 49-0 in his legendary career. The 28-year-old McGregor, 21-3 in the cage, fought three times in 2016: after his upset loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, the Irishman topped his rival by majority decision in their rematch at UFC 202 last August. “The Notorious” then headlined UFC 205, the company's first card at New York's Madison Square Garden, devastating Eddie Alvarez to become UFC lightweight champion and the first simultaneous, two-division UFC titlist.