On the last Saturday of the year without Gamecock football, students and student-athletes gathered around Columbia to watch another physical sport: boxing.
Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and UFC fighter Conor McGregor squared off in the ring at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in a showdown many students were anxiously awaiting for months.
To pay for the $99.95 pay-per-view fee on Showtime, students teamed up to split the bill or visited one of the few eateries in Columbia showing the fight. Restaurants like the Hickory Tavern - Woodhill location and Buffalo Wild Wings in Lexington required a cover fee from $20-40 per person to watch.
According to Yahoo Finance, Joe Hand Promotions, the third-party event promoter that handles UFC events, told businesses showing the fight would cost them $30 per head. That means a restaurant with a 70-person capacity would have paid $2,100. Yahoo Finance said the maximum a business would have had to pay is $9,000, the total cost for a 300-person capacity.
The Gamecock football team gathered at Williams-Brice Stadium to watch the fight. According to running back A.J. Turner, the locker room was split with some players rooting for McGregor and some rooting for Mayweather.
“Everybody talks about it,” Turner said Friday. “Whenever it’s brought up in the locker room, there’s always this big argument. Some people are for Mayweather. Some people are for McGregor ... I think it’s going to be a good team bonding thing.”
Linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams was on Team Mayweather, wanting to see the three-time U.S. Golden Gloves champion remain undefeated.
“Of course I got Floyd Mayweather,” Allen-Williams said. “50-0. I kind of feel like it’s a pro against an amateur. This is McGregor’s first professional fight. I feel like Floyd is a little more seasoned in the ring, so he kind of has an advantage.”
Conversely, offensive lineman Zack Bailey was cheering for McGregor, but mostly wanted to see an entertaining matchup.
“I want Conor to win,” Bailey said. “I think Mayweather just dances around the ring too much. I like someone who’s going to get in there and throw, throw down ... I don’t want to see the Pacquiao fight again. It was just do-do-do. It’s not a good show. It’s just boring. I want to see some contact go down. I hope Conor knocks him out.”