Floyd Mayweather Vs Conor Mcgregor — SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs rolling in money meme joking about the Mayweather vs McGregor fight payout

Floyd Mayweather Vs Conor Mcgregor

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Published August 20, 2026

Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor, nicknamed The Money Fight, was the August 26th, 2017 boxing match in Paradise, Nevada that spawned a wave of meme content across Reddit and Twitter before, during, and after the bout. The crossover spectacle between the undefeated boxer and the UFC lightweight champion generated image macros, GIF simulations, and jokes about the pay-per-view stream crashing under demand.

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Overview

Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor, marketed as The Money Fight, was a cross-combat-sport boxing match between retired five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor held on August 26th, 2017 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada3. The novelty of a pro boxer facing an MMA fighter under boxing rules turned the event into a months-long meme cycle on Reddit and Twitter1.

The meme output clustered around a few recurring bits: SpongeBob edits mocking how much money both fighters would make, GIF simulations predicting the outcome, image macros of McGregor's custom pinstripe suit, and screenshots of the UFC.tv pay-per-view stream failing on fight night2. Rather than a single template, the fight worked as an umbrella event that generated a batch of adjacent formats within roughly ten weeks.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (announcement) / Reddit (viral spread)
Date
2017

McGregor reportedly signed the fight contract on May 18th, 2017, agreeing to terms proposed by Mayweather for a professional boxing match under boxing rules3. On June 14th, 2017, Mayweather posted a tweet announcing the fight was officially scheduled, captioned "IT'S OFFICIAL!!!"6.

The bout was set for the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada and broadcast on Showtime pay-per-view, with BoxingScene.com's Keith Idec estimating Mayweather would take home at least $100 million and McGregor around $75 million3.

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How It Spread

On June 18th, 2017, Redditor WhatCanCrewDoForYou posted "High-tech simulation of Mayweather v McGregor" to /r/BikiniBottomTwitter, using a still of SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs lying in a pile of cash, which pulled in over 38,100 points and 330 comments within six weeks4. The same day, a computer-animated GIF showing Mayweather running circles around McGregor before knocking him out hit the front page of /r/mma and /r/gaming3.

On July 11th, 2017, the @bokamotoespn Instagram account posted a photo of McGregor in a navy pinstripe suit where the pinstripes spelled out "fuck you," which gathered around 1,900 likes in two weeks5. Redditor mnbeerfan2k16 followed on July 14th with a /r/Patriots edit swapping the pinstripes for "Falcons blew a 28-3 lead," and the Shitheadsteve Facebook page posted a "9/11 was an inside job" version the next day3. YouTuber Zac Alsop uploaded footage of himself sneaking into a London press conference on July 15th, 2017, racking up more than 1.05 million views inside two weeks3.

On fight night, several TV providers and UFC.tv buckled under demand, pushing the start time back by about an hour3. Redditor mykalmoto posted a screenshot of the UFC.tv error message reading "overwhelming volume of requests" with the caption "Glad I paid $99 for PPV on UFC.tv," and image macros about Mayweather's 10th-round TKO win flooded /r/dankmemes and /r/memeeconomy that same evening3.

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How to Use This Meme

The suit template is typically remade by pasting a punchline into McGregor's pinstripes, often referencing a totally unrelated grievance or in-joke for the poster's target audience. The "high-tech simulation" format is commonly used for any lopsided matchup by pairing two characters with a caption framing them as a serious prediction model.

Frequently Asked Questions