RAPPER 50 Cent kick-started the negotiations for Floyd Mayweather to fight UFC legend Conor McGregor.
The two mavericks met in a blockbuster crossover bout in August 2017, with Money Mayweather winning by 10th round stoppage.
It marked an end to months of build-up and trash-talking between the pair, with the event gripping both fighting codes.
But UFC president Dana White revealed a chance meeting with 50 Cent – a long-time friend of Mayweather’s – was the catalyst for the super-fight taking place.
White told ESPN: “When the demand is there. I felt the demand for McGregor vs Mayweather, felt it, I knew it would be big, so we started talking.
“I bumped into 50 Cent in New York, and he said, ‘Floyd wants to fight your boy.’ I said, ‘My boy who?’
“He’s like, ‘The Irish kid.’ And I’m like, ‘He’ll kill him,’ because I’m thinking MMA.
“He said, ‘We’ll box him.’ I said, ‘You guys are crazy.’
“He said, ‘He’s serious. I’ll call him right now.’
“And then that’s how it all really got started. And then everywhere I went, it was all anybody asked me about.
“Then once I started to really feel it, that’s when I started to take it serious, and I made an offer.”
After Mayweather beat McGregor on the Irishman’s boxing debut he officially retired from the sport.
He returned at the end of 2018 for an exhibition bout against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in Tokyo.
But in November the 43-year-old announced he is ‘coming out of retirement in 2020’ to work on a ‘spectacular event’ with White.
UFC boss White revealed: “We both started talking. The easiest way to explain it to you is Floyd and I both feel that we add value to each other, and we’re going to figure something out.
“Some things have to play out, and then I’m going to start talking to [Mayweather’s advisor Al] Haymon maybe this summer and then I’ll have something for Floyd in the fall.
“We can do some crossover stuff here or we can do something in boxing.
“Our last experience, Floyd was actually pretty easy to deal with. Haymon is incredible to deal with.
“Floyd and I got a handshake deal at the basketball game, and we’ll get the rest figured out.”
Mayweather recently refused to rule out a second fight against McGregor – but he has stated the bout wouldn’t take place in the Octagon.
