A super-hyped boxing match between boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. and MMA fighter “The Notorious” Conor McGregor ended after 10 rounds with the actual boxer winning — but only after the mixed-martial artist gave him a much harder time than most people expected.
The referee stopped Mayweather vs. McGregor with a 10th-round technical knockout after almost 30 minutes as McGregor’s offense completely ceased and he could no longer defend himself. There were no actual knockdowns throughout the hand-throwing, which is fairly typical of Mayweather’s 150-lb. weight class.
From casual fans to experts, almost everyone predicted future boxing hall-of-famer Mayweather would win. (Physicians quoted by the New York Times before the fight even wondered about McGregor’s safety.) But the back-and-forth action surprised and delighted the millions who paid around $100 to watch on pay-per-view. There seemed to be consensus that the match actually lived up to its hype.
Shortly after midnight eastern time, McGregor came out swinging, while his opponent looked lost early. Mayweather’s offense seemed nonexistent until it picked up in Round 4 and mounted from there.
The tenth round was somewhere between one-sided and a formality.
Saturday night was McGregor’s first officially sanctioned professional boxing match. In the UFC, the 29-year-old MMA champion is 21-3-0. He’s now 0-1 in the sweet science.
The 40-year-old Mayweather retired from his sport two years ago with a record of 49-0, though he came back to work for the McGregor fight’s giant payday and his landmark 50th victory.
Both fighters had kind words for each other after the final bell. Mayweather again said this will be his last fight. McGregor wouldn’t rule out another pure boxing match, though he told in-ring interviewers a UFC return is imminent.