The heavily-anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather, a former boxing champion in five weight divisions, and mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor is one step closer to happening, after the Irishman announced that he had officially signed a contract for the event.  

On his website yesterday, McGregor wrote: “The first and most important part of this historic contract has now officially been signed off on. Congratulations to all parties involved. We now await Al Haymon [Mayweather’s manager] and his boxer’s signature in the coming days."

Dana White, president of the IMG-owned mixed martial arts promoter UFC, later confirmed that McGregor had agreed terms for the fight. 

He said:  "I'm starting to work on the Mayweather side now. If we can come to a deal with Haymon and Mayweather, the fight's going to happen."

Throughout the fight’s very public negotiations, Mayweather has offered UFC champion Conor McGregor $15 million and a percentage of pay-per-view sales for the crossover fight.

White has previously talked of a minimum of $25 million for each fighter plus a cut of PPV revenues.

Mayweather, who retired in September 2015, told USA’s ESPN earlier this year he would require a guaranteed $100 million to make the bout happen.

McGregor’s last UFC fight (UFC 205) in November last year was the promoter’s most successful event, breaking the record for gate receipts ($17.7 million) and domestic attendance (20,427).

However, it is still unclear whether UFC 205 broke the promoter’s record for pay-per-view sales, which stands at 1.65 million for UFC 202, which featured McGregor’s defeat of Nate Diaz.

Sportcal