Larry Merchant: UFC Found a Way to Market Street Fights

Former HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant doesn’t view mixed martial arts as having technical fighting.

Merchant has long been a boxing analyst, so he’s heard of the Aug. 26 “super fight” between UFC lightweight title holder Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather. The two are due for massive paydays after their showdown, which airs live on Showtime pay-per-view.

Speaking with Fight Hub, Merchant compared MMA to street fighting:

“I think it connects to me with the short attention span that if you were walking down the street and saw a good street fight, you’d probably stop and take a look at it and they found a way to market that and that is exciting. I think there is some skilled involved, of course, as well s strength, will and all the rest of that. But, unless your really seeped in that, something tells you that something is going to happen. And in boxing, or prizefighting as I prefer to call it, that may not be necessarily true, that something may be closer to nothing.”

McGregor and Mayweather wrapped up a tour that stopped at four cities and three countries. Mayweather is expected to break the $1 billion mark over the course of his career once the fight takes place.