Connor McGregor, Floyd Mayweather fuel speculation over fight

When a story surfaced on Friday that MMA superstar Conor McGregor and "retired" world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather were on the verge of solidifying a deal for a fight, fans and critics alike were quick to dismiss the rumours.

Not only did the story come from British tabloid The Sun, but McGregor is technically still under contract with the UFC.

Nonetheless, the prospect of a fight between two of the biggest names in fighting sports was pretty tantalizing for fans.

Not to be left out of the rumour mill, UFC President Dana White responded a day after the story broke — and it wasn't great news for those hoping for a showdown.

"It's not true; it's just a tabloid story," White told Yahoo Sports. "And as far as I knew, Floyd is retired and he's been on a worldwide vacation and hasn't even been thinking of fighting."

It doesn't help that no one is really sure where McGregor stands in his relationship with the UFC. In April, he was dumped from UFC 200 for failing to promote his rematch with Nate Diaz. McGregor responded to that decision with a 650-word statement he posted to his personal Facebook and Twitter.

Warning: the following post contains offensive language.

McGregor has continued to prove he's not afraid of stirring the pot on social media and on Sunday tweeted out a potential poster for the speculative Mayweather-McGregor matchup.

And even McGregor's coach, John Kavanagh, couldn't resist getting in on the action, tweeting out this not-so-subtle typo.

Mayweather added fuel to the fire on Saturday in an interview with fighthype.com saying, "The rumours that y'all been hearing is the rumours that I started...it may not be a rumour."

Mayweather retired from boxing with a perfect 49-0 record in September of last year after a unanimous-decision victory over Andre Berto. But Mayweather is known for not being able to stay away from the ring, retiring briefly twice in 2007 and then coming out of retirement after a 21-month break in 2009.

So what would a fight between McGregor and Mayweather look like? For starters, The Sun reported the megabrawl would be fought in Las Vegas — conveniently the same place as UFC 200. The tabloid also reported some pretty significant payouts should the fight go down, with Mayweather predicted to earn $144 million US and McGregor set to pocket about $10 million US for stepping inside the ring. 

And if we were to entertain the idea, here's what a Mayweather matchup would look like:

So, who do you think would win?