Conor McGregor can knock out Floyd Mayweather and become biggest athlete on the planet, says Dana White

The pair will meet in Las Vegas on 26 August in what is likely to be the highest-grossing fight ever

Dana White, the UFC president, has claimed that Conor McGregor will become the ‘biggest athlete on the planet’ if he knocks out Floyd Mayweather later this year.

McGregor and Mayweather will meet in Las Vegas on 26 August after the pair struck a deal to stage the long-touted match-up earlier this month.

Regarded by many as the finest boxer of his generation, Mayweather is duly considered the overwhelming favourite against McGregor, who has never boxed professionally.

Yet despite the UFC lightweight champion’s marked inexperience, White is considering what may happen if McGregor upsets the odds and defeats his unbeaten opponent.

Asked whether a victory for McGregor would be the biggest shock in sporting history, White told mixed martial arts website MMAJunkie: “Ever. Tell me a bigger upset.

“If Conor McGregor knocks out Floyd Mayweather, tell me something bigger. He’ll be the biggest athlete on the f****** planet. It’ll be absolute madness.”

White, meanwhile, remains in negotiations with former NWA rapper Ice Cube over the use of the 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena, the proposed venue for the fight.

Ice Cube had already reserved the arena for a basketball event on the same night as Mayweather and McGregor’s meeting and initially appeared reluctant to reschedule his booking.

White, however, has now claimed that having met Ice Cube, “everything is smooth” between himself and the rapper, and that he expects the pair to reach an agreement in due course.

“He and I talked, and we got the whole thing – I don’t want to say squashed because there was never anything there – but we got it all worked out

“But that whole thing with Ice Cube was being blown way out of proportion, number one. And number two, everything is smooth and going in the right direction.”