NSAC Head: McGregor is Younger, Stronger, Longer, Big Puncher

Over the last few weeks, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has taken a lot of heat from the boxing public, over their sanction of a "boxing match" between five division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC superstar Conor McGregor.

Mayweather-McGregor being approved as a non-exhibition boxing match has raised a lot of eyebrows, because the MMA star has no experience as a professional boxer - and he's facing one of the best pure boxers in history.

The NSAC also looks at some of the factors - which see a 40 year old Mayweather returning to the sport after 2 years of inactivity.

The NSAC took more heat last week, when they approved the use of 8-ounce gloves for Mayweather-McGregor.

According to the NSAC rules, any boxing match above the welterweight limit of 147-pounds must require the use of 10-ounce gloves. Mayweather-McGregor takes place at the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds.

Bob Bennett, the Executive Director for Nevada State Athletic Commission, views McGregor as a very dangerous opponent for Mayweather.

“Conor is the younger, stronger, the longer, more powerful puncher,” Bennett said to the MMA Hour. “As you know in UFC, he fought featherweight, lightweight, welterweight. His record is 21-3 in MMA — 17 of those wins have come by way of KO or TKO. So he’s a premier striker, knockout artist. He’s a young, aggressive warrior who believes he’s gonna win. And that attitude unto itself makes it very dangerous.

“But seeing is believing. Because it is an approvable fight. That didn’t really have any bearing on whether we would approve it or not. I’m known as an executive director to be very conservative in approving fights, whether they are MMA or boxing. I have a format that I go by that I had to deviate a little from. Because this is unprecedented. It is historic.

"Both these guys are phenomenal athletes. I took a real close look at Conor, because everybody knows Floyd. He’s 49-0, arguably the best defense in the history of boxing. Future Hall of Famer. Conor is a young warrior coming up.”

Mayweather-McGregor takes place on Saturday night, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.