Watch Video Games Predict The Winner Of Mayweather Vs. McGregor

We’re just one short week away from what is one of most hyped sporting events of all time: Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor. It’s the biggest name in boxing versus the biggest name in MMA, and even if you’re not into sports, you’ve likely heard at least a hot take or two.

Fans often turn to video games to predict major sporting events like the Super Bowl, and for us, Mayweather v. McGregor is no exception. We wanted to find out who would win the boxing bout, so we simulated the highly anticipated fight inside the most recent boxing video game we could find. But given the short supply of prizefighting video games (and the overall one-sidedness of the contest), we didn’t stop there. We pit Mayweather against McGregor inside an MMA ring, a professional wrestling ring, the Soulcalibur universe, and finally, an MLB ballpark to see who is the greatest of all time.

Note: Some statistics like reach and weight are not accurate given each game’s restrictions on weight class and custom character creations. 

Round 1: Boxing
Given that Mayweather vs. McGregor is a boxing match, you’d think this would be the most important round of our contest. But the latest professional boxing title, Fight Night Champion from 2011, is a less-than-adequate simulation.

We found a pretty solid stand-in for Mayweather with the community-created boxers, and we made… someone vaguely reminiscent of McGregor. The one advantage McGregor has in this bout is that when creating a character in Fight Night Champion, there’s not an adjustable slider for technique or experience, meaning that McGregor’s biggest weakness isn’t going to be represented in-game. So, is it enough of an edge to take down one of the greatest boxing talents of all time?

Ultimately, our Conor stand-in proved too inexperienced. He wildly threw punches that rarely connected, and Floyd (appropriately) counter-punched the green McGregor to victory. Floyd scored a knock-out early in the fourth round, winning the opening leg of our Mayweather v. McGregor match-up.

Round 2: MMA
Few people are giving Conor a shot to win the bout on August 26, primarily because boxing and mixed martial arts are two different sports. On the flip side, many wonder how long Floyd would last inside an octagon with McGregor. The answer (according to our simulation): longer than you’d think.

In the much more current UFC 2 game, we created a Floyd Mayweather from scratch. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we gave him maximum punching power and technique, but made his foot and grapple game practically nonexistent. We also gave him a fair amount of stamina because he’s still a professional fighter, albeit in a different sport.

So, did a debilitated Floyd keep up against one of the game’s cover athletes?

To Floyd’s credit, he gives McGregor a run for his money. An early knockdown by Mayweather signaled that the boxing champion wasn’t going down without a fight. He even staggered McGregor at a few points in the match, but never capitalized. This came back to bite him, as McGregor knocked him out in the third round with a few hard head kicks. Unsurprisingly, Conor won our contest inside the MMA ring.

Round 3: Professional Wrestling
Now, with both fighters out of their element, this is where things begin to shake up. Utilizing the hyper-realistic WWE 2K17, we downloaded two community creations and adjusted their stats to better reflect what Mayweather v. McGregor would look like inside a pro wrestling ring.

It's a hardcore, anything-goes grudge match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor at WWE SummerSlam 2017. Floyd enters the ring with a cocky confidence, followed by some furrowed-brow guy who kind of looks like Conor from a distance. Following their lengthy entrances, the two square off in front of tens of thousands.

In what was a true bloodbath, the two gave their all in a back-and-forth match that left all in attendance speechless. After establishing himself as the villain, Floyd gained heavy momentum by delivering some cheap, classless blows to a defenseless Conor midway through the match. He fed on the crowd’s boos and jeers, but made the mistake of leaving McGregor time to recover. Conor came back, utilizing weapons and his raw MMA talents to take down the boxer.

Round three went to McGregor.

Round 4: Soulcalibur V
We've seen these two fight within the realm of reality, but what about the world of fantasy? For this round, we reimagined the two athletes inside of Soulcalibur V, providing them with anime-esque personas. 

We gave "God Emperor of Las Vegas" Floyd Mayweather regal armor and a ridiculously over-the-top greatsword to tap into his identity as an insanely wealthy, lavish businessman/boxer. We also gave him a crocodile-skin cape that you'll never be able make out on the Xbox 360.

Conor "Demon Wolf of the Four Realms" McGregor has a much simpler design, with only two shoulder guards to protect himself. As a mischief-making assassin, he likes to retain his mobility, which gives him more options to attack. He can also summon a green spirit wolf who, since he's green, obviously has something to do with Ireland.

After three seasons of build-up and 30+ episodes of filler, the armies of Mayweather and McGregor meet on a moonlit battlefield. McGregor leads his battalion of rebels to overthrow Emperor Mayweather, whose soldiers have decimated his homeland for generations. Both armies are slain violently and epically until just the two leaders remain.

Even with the power of his demon wolf, Conor was kept at bay by Floyd's far-reaching cleaves. It didn’t take much to destroy McGregor’s weak armor, and Mayweather effortlessly overwhelmed the young rebel leader. In the sixth round, McGregor barely landed a blow before Mayweather summoned the ancient power of his ice blast, freezing Conor alive and sending his spirit to the Shadow Realm for the rest of eternity.

Floyd wins Round four in true anime fashion.

Round 5: Home Run Derby
Tied up two rounds to two, it all comes down to this. Bases loaded. Bottom of the ninth. World Series on the line. How many home runs can each competitor hit in 5 minutes?

It's the Red Sox centerfielder Conor McGregor versus the New York Yankees first baseman Floyd Mayweather in MLB The Show 16.

First up to bat, Floyd had a slow start, not hitting a homer until a minute in. But around the 3:30 mark, he began to find his stride, and earned bonus time for nailing three home runs of 440 feet or greater.

With 2 minutes left, Floyd had 5 homers, and doubled that by the end of his regular time. He finished with 14 home-runs on the scorecard. For some reason, perhaps confident in the lead he’d established, he let the final pitch of his at-bat go, a decision he would come to regret.

Next up was Conor. Unlike Mayweather, McGregor came out swinging. He was less picky with what he swung at, and while he still maintained a similar level of production, it ultimately made the difference in the contest. At the two-minute point, Conor was neck-and-neck with Floyd, both having five home runs plus a minute-and-a-half of bonus time.

Conor ended regulation with 12 home runs, and Floyd began to sweat. Conor needed just three home runs in a minute and a half to win our contest. After 60 seconds of bonus time, Conor tied it up by crushing one 491 feet (our longest of the competition). Then with 20 seconds left on the clock, Conor sealed the deal.

A 490-foot rocket into right field made Conor the winner of our competition. In the end, Conor's strike-first, fearless attitude overcame Floyd's calculated patience. So, given McGregor's victory in our five-round exhibition, is this an accurate predictor of who's going to come out the victor the night of August 26? We'd like to think so.

Custom characters were adapted from community creations made by the following users: iantheguitar (Xbox Live), I-28GRAMZ-I (PlayStation Network) and UGoinGetDisWork (PlayStation Network).