Conor McGregor has more at stake against Floyd Mayweather than just money

Just for showing up Saturday night, Conor McGregor will already be a big winner. His blockbuster fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be, without a doubt, the biggest pay day of his career.

McGregor said as much in the Conan interview that started it all in 2015.

“If you’re asking would I like to fight Floyd, who would not like to dance around the ring for $180 million?”

But now that McGregor is getting that check, win or lose — assuming he makes weight Friday — does it matter how he fights Saturday?

Just about every combat sports expert is pegging Mayweather to win. There’s always “a puncher’s chance” and McGregor’s left hand certainly warrants attention, but Mayweather has been battle-tested and never once dropped in 49 professional boxing matches.

Unless his skills dwindled significantly in the two years since his last fight, McGregor stands to have a lot of difficulty landing a fight-ending shot on the 40-year-old boxer.

But let’s imagine that he does. What would that do for the career of the UFC’s lightweight champion who turned 29 last month?

For one, it would make him a legendary figure in combat sports history. There would be a ton of excuses made for the downfall of Mayweather’s undefeated record — the size disadvantage and age difference among those — but the win would legitimize the striking skills of mixed martial artists, in general, and damage the concept that boxers are lightyears ahead.

A win would also launch McGregor’s career into some fascinating, uncharted territory.

He may make more than 10 times as much for Mayweather vs. McGregor than any of his UFC bouts, so why go back to the octagon? He has previously talked about a goal of co-promoting his fights with the UFC and wanting a stake in the company — something that UFC president Dana White isn’t ruling out.

McGregor has also recently talked about building a ring/cage hybrid so that he could welcome all challengers. And even if that doesn’t come true, it’s essentially what McGregor’s career could become.

He’ll likely be able to pick and choose challengers from either boxing or MMA based on how much money he thinks he could make from the fight. Hell, maybe even a rematch with Mayweather could be in the cards.

Mayweather’s last knockout victory was a controversial finish of Victor Ortiz in 2011 after Ortiz dropped his hands to apologize for a headbutt. Prior to that it was a TKO of Ricky Hatton in 2007.

But even though Mayweather typically wins by racking up points on the judges’ scorecards and a KO seems unlikely, he’s guaranteeing that Saturday will be different.

“Mark my words, there’s a 100 percent chance this fight won’t go the distance,” Mayweather told MMA Fighting on Wednesday.

If McGregor gets dominated in the fashion that Mayweather is promising, it’s hard to imagine that the Irish MMA star would want to lace up boxing shoes again rather than remind everyone how he became a headliner in combat sports in the first place.

Perhaps McGregor would take a fight with someone like Paulie Malignaggi just to show everyone his boxing skills are at a professional level, but the likelier scenario is that he goes back to the UFC to defend his lightweight title.

It’s hard to deny that it would be a big step backward for the climb of McGregor, though. His sole misstep in the UFC was a loss to Nate Diaz, but he started strong in that contest and avenged the loss five months later. He wouldn’t get that opportunity with Mayweather.

So much of his persona is built around his brash trash talk and unshakable confidence. Would his brand have the same appeal if his venture into another sport ended with him embarrassed at the hands of a much smaller, 40-year-old boxer? It would undeniably take a hit, even if he would still be the biggest star in MMA by a huge margin.

Bovada — an online gambling site — has the over/under for punches landed by McGregor at 31.5. For Mayweather, it’s 105.5.

There really just isn’t much faith that McGregor will have any chance other than landing one lucky punch. But if he manages to give Mayweather a tough fight, steals a few rounds, and lands a significant amount of shots, it would be great for McGregor.

Especially if the fight is close enough that fans complain about the decision when it goes in Mayweather’s favor.

With Mayweather improving to 50-0, it’s probably unlikely that the rematch would occur, but McGregor would have cause to campaign for it.

And even if McGregor didn’t get a second fight with Mayweather, he would have plenty of choices elsewhere. His next fight could be in either boxing or MMA, and all of the options that would become open to him with a win would likely be there in an impressive loss, as well.

No matter how the fight goes Saturday, McGregor will be getting a huge boost to his bank account, but at age 29, he has plenty of other options after Mayweather.

He has said that “dancing around the ring for $180 million” is a good reason to take the fight, but the opportunity to launch his career into another stratosphere is another.