Floyd Mayweather to fight Conor McGregor at T-Mobile Arena after promotors reach agreement with rapper
Ice Cube's basketball league said it had reached a financial and promotional deal with promoters of Mayweather vs McGregor, after the fight was booked on the same night as the rival event
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Floyd Mayweather's boxing match against Conor McGregor will definitely be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, after promoters were able to reach an agreement with Ice Cube to move the championship game of his Big3 basketball league.
The fight was thrown into some doubt when it emerged that the final game of the 3-on-3 league was meant to be staged on the same evening, at the same venue. However, the basketball final will not be held at the neighbouring MGM Grand Garden Arena.
On Thursday, the basketball league said that it had reached a financial and promotional deal with MGM Resorts, Mayweather Promotions and the UFC, who represent McGregor.
Terms were not disclosed, although Ice Cube had previously said he would be willing to move his event if he was paid compensation from the organisers of the Mayweather v McGregor bout.
“Of course,” he said live on television when asked if a monetary solution could convince him to vacate the T-Mobile Arena on August 26. “If they do what they’re supposed to do and make us happy, yeah we’ll move.”
Mayweather and McGregor are set to begin a four-city tour this week to promote the fight.
Mayweather will be returning from retirement to face the mixed martial arts star and UFC President Dana White had said the match would be held at T-Mobile, the largest venue in Las Vegas.
But the arena had continued to list the basketball game on its schedule of events.
The T-Mobile Arena, situated on the Las Vegas Strip, opened in April 2016 and has a capacity of 20,000 for combat sports events – almost 3,000 seats more than the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Since opening, the venue has staged a number of marquee boxing events, including Canelo Álvarez vs Amir Khan and Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward, as well as UFC 200, 202, 207 and 209.
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