*The most anticipated boxing match in years will go down Saturday night in Las Vegas between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.
The two men were involved in a scuffle during Tuesday’s Grand Arrival in front of the T-Mobile Arena after walking past each other. Their entourage had to separate the stars, following several shoves between the two camps, per NY Post.
“I saw him, and I said, ‘What are you afraid of a faceoff today?’” McGregor said. “He didn’t say anything, and the big ghouls he surrounds himself with started pushing and shoving, and then it was a pushing and shoving contest. … He can’t walk around the place without being surrounded by these donkeys, [but] look, he’s in the ring on his own. I’m already the true king of fighting. I’ll be the king of boxing now, also.”
With four days until the two meet in the ring, the NY Post has compiled a list of 10 things about McGregor, Mayweather that might surprise you, check it out below.
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McGregor was attached to his grandfather’s hat
He doesn’t consider himself superstitious, but for 10 years McGregor carried his grandfather’s hat with him in a tote bag. “I’ve had it literally since I started combat sport,” McGregor said in the RTE Documentary “Notorious,” which was filmed before the hat was stolen. “He died and left a few things and one of the things he used to always wear was hats. I’ve had it 10 years I’d say and it’s been in every gear bag.”
McGregor was on welfare before joining the UFC
McGregor cashed a public assistance check for about $235 the week before his first UFC fight on April 6, 2013. He had given up his job as an apprentice plumber to focus solely on a mixed martial arts career, which up to that point hadn’t earned much of an income. McGregor knocked out Marcus Brimage at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm Sweden in his UFC debut and earned a $60,000 bonus for the “Knockout of the Night.” Four years later, he will earn upwards of $75 million for his fight with Mayweather.
McGregor worked as a plumber apprentice
Before launching his pro MMA career, McGregor served as an apprentice plumber in Dublin. His father, Tony, wasn’t happy when Conor told him “this isn’t for me” and was leaving plumbing to start fighting. “It caused conflict between us,” McGregor has said, “but through time, through hard work, through dedication, he was on board with it. Now I have retired him. Now he doesn’t have to work. It’s a beautiful thing to give back to my family.”
The elder McGregor says his son wasn’t a very reliable plumber. “We had terrible trouble getting him to show up,” Tony McGregor has said. “He wasn’t in to it all. It was a real nightmare to try and get him to go.”
Floyd Mayweather’s birth name wasn’t Junior
He came into this world as Floyd Joy Sinclair. But he always has been known as Floyd Mayweather Jr., after his father, Floyd Sr. The younger Mayweather had a tough upbringing with four siblings sharing a tiny bedroom in Grand Rapids, Mich. Floyd Sr. introduced his son to violence before boxing. The elder Mayweather was shot in the leg in 1978 while holding Floyd Jr. and eventually would spend time in jail for cocaine trafficking. Father and son had a tumultuous relationship until reconciling in 2013.
Mayweather and Justin Bieber are really good friends
Bieber has participated in Mayweather’s ring walk to some of his biggest fights. And they’re actually real friends. They have vacationed and taken spa trips together. Bieber is 17 years younger than Mayweather, but they share a lot in common. Bieber made $80 million in 2014 alone, while Mayweather earned $105 million.
Oops! Hold up. Make that Mayweather and Bieber USED ta be good friends
Apparently, these two are no longer buddies. As a matter of fact, Mayweather and Bieber aren’t even on speaking terms, according to sources close to both parties.
In a story published by TMZ, Bieber has been getting counseling at the Hillsong Church, which advised the pop star to pull back from those who are bad influences. This all led to Bieber unfollowing Mayweather on Instagram as part of him “resetting boundaries” that included keeping away from Mayweather’s obsession with strip clubs.
But once Bieber unfollowed Mayweather, the man who will face Conor McGregor on Aug. 26 went “insane, nuclear.” Sources stated that Mayweather called Bieber a “traitor” because Mayweather had always been by Bieber’s side, even when he faced backlash from the media and fans.
The Money Team
Founded in 2012, the Money team — or TMT — isn’t just a moniker. It’s a full-scale retail business that sells shirts, hats, tank tops, hoodies, iPhone cases and wristbands. Mayweather seldom appears publicly without wearing some sort of branding that features “TMT.” His business, which also includes Mayweather Promotions, has expanded to the “TBE Collection” as in “The Best Ever.” He has also applied to trademark “TMT50” and “TBE50” for his upcoming fight with McGregor. “Why would I wear somebody else’s brand?” Mayweather said recently. “Nike had to start from somewhere. Adidas had to start from somewhere. Puma had to start from somewhere. I’m going to build TMT from the ground up. If I wear anybody else’s brand, I have to wear my brand first.”
Mayweather got through his 2012 jail stint by reading letters
Mayweather spent two months in the Cooke County Jail in 2012 after pleading to a misdemeanor domestic battery charge. He spent his time in a maximum security cell away from the general population. “When I was in that cell doing time, how I got through it was by everybody writing me, my daughter’s mother writing me, Leonard [Ellerbe] writing me, Al [Haymon] checking on me,” Mayweather said, also mentioning his publicist Kelly Swanson. “I was doing time in max. I learned there’s nothing like freedom. I just wanted to touch a tree and walk through the park.”
No athlete thanks the media more than Floyd Mayweather
Floyd Mayweather may not have always gotten great press from those critical of his personal life and boxing style. But he always goes overboard thanking the media for its involvement in any of his big fights. “I don’t care if you wrote a good story about me or a bad story about me, you wrote about me,” Mayweather said during a tour stop in Brooklyn. “Keep my name out there and keep me alive. As long as people who love me know who I am, I don’t care what they say.”
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