Floyd Mayweather backs away from UFC fight talk: 'I'm not doing it'

Floyd Mayweather set the internet on fire when he seemed to imply he was seriously considering a huge deal with the UFC that could net him up to a billion dollars. But a week after those words and UFC president Dana White confirming Floyd's interest, the boxing pound for pound great is backtracking.

“That’s not what I said!" Mayweather claimed. "Exactly what I said is this, if I made a billion dollars before, I could do it again. If I chose to get in the UFC and fight three fights or fight four fights and then fight Conor McGregor, I could make a billion dollars, which I can. I can do it in three fights or even four fights, I could make a billion dollars if I choose to get into the Octagon and fight.”

“We just don’t know what the future holds for Floyd Mayweather. I don’t look forward to getting back in a boxing ring. That’s what I don’t look forward to doing. I’m just saying I could — I’m not doing it — but I’m saying what I could do to make a billion dollars quick if I wanted to do that. That’s what I was saying.”

Mayhaps Mayweather thought through what a two or three fight run in the UFC would look like: something along the lines of what we've seen from CM Punk and James Toney, but with the added ingredient of it ruining his reputation as one of the greatest boxers to ever lace the gloves.

"Money May" might love making boatloads of cash, but all the money in the world won't help you when you're the laughingstock of the world. And there's no doubt the showy Conor McGregor would punish Mayweather and make him look foolish in the cage, especially after Floyd talked all tht s**t about 'carrying' McGregor in their boxing fight.

So it's probably a good thing for Floyd that he's backing away from this idea. For him and for the UFC, which might never survive this big step further towards a philosophy where superfights trump all, no matter how freakshow they may be.