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As Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor get closer and closer to their superfight, we decided to take a look at the 10 most important bouts in each fighter's career. We will rank them 10-1 alternating fighters throughout the presentation.
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In another giant PPV event (1.4 million buys), Mayweather endured through legitimate adversity in Round 2 when Mosley rocked him twice to clear his head and cruise to a wide victory. Mayweather not only proved his mettle by holding on and remarkably staying on his feet despite being rocked with power shots, the way in which he turned the tables so quickly back on Mosley and walked him down was impressive.
Although he strategically waited Mosley out just a bit, Mayweather removed another name from his opponent that critics said he was avoiding.
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In maybe the first indication as to what type of class as a fighter he would become, McGregor wowed his hometown fans in Dublin with a kickboxing exhibition in a spirited fight. Brandao was aggressive and confident but he couldn't deal with McGregor's accuracy. In his first headlining role, McGregor proved he was worth the price of admission -- something that would become a recurring theme in his UFC career.
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Consider this fight the first time Mayweather proved that "ring rust" wasn't in his vocabulary. "Money" came back from a nearly two-year retirement spent resting his oft-injured hands and building his brand through "Dancing With The Stars" and WrestleMania.
He came back and thoroughly dominated the smaller Marquez, himself a future Hall of Famer, in arguably the most complete performance of Mayweather's career. The fight also sold above 1 million buys despite the fact that Mayweather purchased three extra pounds on the scale the day before the fight to avoid having to cut down to the contracted weight of 144 pounds.
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McGregor's return to Boston for his second time in five UFC appearances is remembered more for what happened immediately after his victory over the veteran Siver than what happened inside the cage. McGregor proved he was simply on another level compared with Siver and stopped him in Round 2 due to an accumulation of vicious strikes. Immediately after, McGregor frantically leaped the cage wall to confront champion Jose Aldo in the crowd.
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With Mayweather allowed to delay the start of his jail sentence for domestic battery charges by one month in order for the fight with Cotto to take place, many wondered how the distraction might affect Mayweather inside the ring.
But despite a tougher-than-expected performance from a rejuvenated Cotto at 154 pounds (who bloodied Mayweather's nose), the unbeaten champion once again showcased his superiority in the championship rounds. The fight was also another massive success financially between future Hall of Famers and two of the best fighters of their era, producing 1.5 million PPV buys.
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In the first legitimately dangerous fight for McGregor on paper, the results more than spoke for themselves. This was a showcase example of just how dangerous McGregor's mental game can be, as he wore down Poirier through trash talk during the fight's buildup and needed short of two minutes to do the same inside the Octagon.
McGregor controlled distance perfectly and taunted Poirier as he dismantled him. As UFC announcer Joe Rogan said immediately after the stoppage, "Make no mistake about it, Conor McGregor is for real."
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The combination of the Argentine brawler Maidana's constant pressure and barrage of punches from incredibly awkward angles helped make his first meeting with Mayweather in 2014 the closest and most dangerous fight of Floyd's run as a PPV star.
Maidana was unable to duplicate the same level of success in their rematch four months later as Mayweather relied much more on his legs to score a wide victory. But their first fight was plenty dramatic as Maidana constantly pinned Mayweather and forced him to fight. The decision was also very much up in the air as they headed to the scorecards, with Mayweather winning two of three scorecards (the third was a draw).
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McGregor's UFC debut took place in Stockholm, Sweden, when the 24-year old needed just 67 seconds to dispose of the unheralded Brimage (who went on to lose five of his next six bouts). It's almost alarming to go back and watch McGregor compete without his now iconic tattoos on his chest and torso.
But the calm counter striking that has become McGregor's calling card was on full display in this one against the overly aggressive Brimage, who was swallowed up by combination punching in the end.
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In the biggest super fight boxing had seen since Mayweather-De La Hoya six years earlier, Mayweather left no doubt as to how absurdly dominant he still was at age 36 by nearly going untouched against a rising (but still somewhat green) 23-year-old Alvarez.
Don't let the ridiculous 114-114 scorecard from CJ Ross fool you, this was Mayweather nearly painting his masterpiece against a younger, bigger and stronger opponent. The fight was also a box office sensation producing 2.2 million buys.
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Talk about a victory that only gets better with age. Holloway filled in for the injured Andy Ogle and took McGregor the distance in defeat. But at 21, this was a much more raw version of the Hawaiian fighter, who would go on to rebound from the loss to win his next 11 fights and McGregor's old featherweight championship (by stopping Jose Aldo in June).
In 2013, however, this was merely a battle between rising prospects as McGregor, in just his second UFC fight, used his flashy kickboxing early to keep Holloway off balance before cruising to a wide victory.
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There were those who questioned whether Mayweather, at 21, was ready for the world title level against such a crafty and tough (not to mention woefully underrated) fighter as Hernandez. It turns out Mayweather was, with a performance that announced "Pretty Boy" as a legitimate star on the rise.
The corner of Hernandez threw in the towel after Round 8 and "Chicanito," whose only other career defeat came against De La Hoya, retired for good shortly after at age 32. Mayweather had such a strong respect for Hernandez that upon his 2011 death due to cancer, Mayweather paid for the funeral.
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After featherweight champion Jose Aldo pulled out weeks earlier with a fractured rib, Mendes filled in on short notice and instantly presented McGregor with his toughest challenge to date. The constant claims by McGregor's critics that he couldn't beat a wrestler nearly was proven true in Round 1 when Mendes took him down and opened a cut above his right eye.
But McGregor dug deep to fight him off, and with Mendes' gas tank emptying, the brash Irishman chopped him down with punches and knocked him out with just three seconds to go in Round 2. The card was also a rousing success, setting a new UFC record for live gate and confirming the idea that McGregor was a viable PPV brand.
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This passing-of-the-torch fight is what truly made Mayweather a PPV star, using the vehicle of HBO's landmark "24/7" documentary series to help cultivate his villainous "Money" character. The promotion was such a success it sold a then-record 2.4 million PPV buys.
Inside the ring, Mayweather looked strong in his 154-pound debut by overcoming De La Hoya's aggressive start by landing one clean counter shot after another in a fight that was more decisive than the scorecards indicated.
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McGregor's attempt at moving up in weight to challenge for the lightweight championship was spoiled 10 days earlier when Rafael dos Anjos pulled out with a broken foot. Enter Diaz, who walked away from triathlon training to accept the fight at 170 pounds. McGregor was almost naively ignorant to how difficult the challenge would actually be. It turned out to be as dramatic a main event PPV fight as UFC has produced in recent years.
McGregor dominated the first round on his feet and bloodied Diaz with clean punches. But he slowly ran out of gas in doing so and Diaz bent but never fully broke, forcing McGregor to tap out via rear-naked choke in Round 2.
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This remains the toughest fight of Mayweather's career and one that a loud minority of fans and experts still believe Castillo deserved to have won. The battle-tested Mexican used constant pressure and body shots to outland Mayweather by a margin of 203 to 157.
But to Mayweather's credit, he overcame a left shoulder injury to fight his way to the final bell and take home the controversial decision (116-111 and 115-111 twice). Eight months later, Mayweather won the rematch seemingly more convincingly, although the scorecards were actually closer (116-113, 115-113 twice).
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McGregor not only proved without a shadow of a doubt that he was the biggest money fighter in UFC history on this night, but he also set a new standard of historical excellence by becoming the first fighter in company history to hold titles simultaneously in multiple weight classes.
In the UFC's debut at Madison Square Garden following a much-publicized battle to get the sport legalized in New York, McGregor's name on the marquee helped set numerous UFC records for live gate, domestic attendance and more. Inside the cage, McGregor snake-charmed Alvarez into fighting the wrong fight and made him pay with a four-punch combination that ended the fight.
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After a soap opera build more than five years in the making, Mayweather proved without a shadow of a doubt he was the best fighter of his division, sport and era all in the same night with the safe yet convincing manner in which he bested Pacquiao.
The fight was also the biggest event in combat sports history to date producing a records for live gate ($72 million) and pay-per-view buys (4.6 million). Mayweather not only took home a guaranteed purse of $100 million, he reportedly took home upwards of $300 million when all was said and done for 36 minutes of work.
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McGregor's stubborn attempts at daring to be great had led him to a submission loss -- two divisions above his natural weight -- in his first fight against Diaz five months earlier. But instead of regrouping, McGregor doubled down and demanded the rematch to be at 170 pounds. He and Diaz went on to produce an instant five-round classic, cementing their rivalry among the best in MMA history.
McGregor backed up his words with a gusty performance amid constant momentum changes as he hung on by contested decision. He also broke yet another set of UFC records for highest reported purse ($3 million) and most PPV sales (estimated at 1.65 million).
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At 33-0 with devastating power and freak size for 130 pounds, Corrales remains the most dangerous opponent Mayweather has faced in his career, especially when you consider the run of destruction the 23-year-old "Chico" was on at the time. The fact that Mayweather so thoroughly dominated Corrales, to the tune of five knockdowns and a corner stoppage, only makes the victory that much more defining.
Mayweather's defensive abilities were on full display in this one as he outlanded Corrales 220 to 60, according to CompuBox, in a star-making performance he has yet to top.
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Of all the bold claims McGregor had made throughout early UFC run only to defiantly back them up (down to the exact details), this was the one fight in which the most critics believed he had bitten off more than he can chew.
Aldo was unbeaten for a decade and had long dominated the 145-pound division. An almost unheard of 12-city world tour helped market the fight around the globe and after one postponement, it finally happened in Las Vegas. Thirteen seconds and one left hand to the chin later, McGregor took his growing legend to an entirely new level.
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