Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather 2 could be on course to take place on a luxury cruise ship in Saudi Arabia.

Unless you’ve been hidden under a rock, you’ll recall McGregor getting handed a shock defeat by way of a Dustin Poirier KO inside the Octagon last weekend at UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

McGregor had hoped to secure a convincing enough victory against Poirier to help build a crossover fight with boxer Manny Pacquiao, however, defeat inside the cage meant that contingencies had to be made.

Mayweather wasted little time before bulldozing in with a barrage of abuse towards McGregor, in a perfect way to kick-off the hype between their potential second crossover blockbuster.

McGregor, while still licking his wounds, had the 50-0 boxer brand him a ‘Conman Artist McLoser’ and essentially binned his bid to face eight-weight icon Pacquaio, who Mayweather beat in 2015.

Mayweather stated:

“Just know, that bum will never be me or be on my level. I’m just built different, my mindset is on another planet, my skills are second to none, I’m a natural born winner and yes I talk a lot of trash, but every time I back it up.

“Connor cannot even win in his own sport, but talking about coming back to boxing to fight Pacquiao

"Nobody wants to see that, it's like my leftovers eating leftovers”.

It is worth noting that the first MayMac crossover bout almost sold out the 16,000-seater T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, raking in around £50million in VIP ticket sales.

However, per a report in The Sun, with the pandemic putting the brakes on any plans to sell-out any stadiums or arenas in the near future, the idea of a luxury liner with only a few super-rich fans buying mega-money tickets has been teased.

McGregor sailed into Yas Island for weekend’s bout on a 300ft yacht and a huge secluded bubble would minimise Covid-19 risks.

Anthony Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn revealed last year that he had been pitched the idea of a boat hosting AJ’s December win over Kubrat Pulev, which, eventually took place inside Wembley Arena.

Watch this space though, there is definitely a floating boxing ring out there somewhere, where only the mega-rich would be allowed to be in attendance.

Mayweather stopped McGregor on his first outing as a professional boxer back in August 2017 after a 16-month build-up to the blockbuster cross-over event.

It would make Mayweather 50-0, thanks to a tenth-round stoppage of the ‘Notorious’ one, raking in an eye-watering £250million with all pay-per-view sales totted up.

The five-time champ backed himself early on to get the win late, boosting a windfall at the bookies.

The Irishman managed to bank himself a cool £100 million from the clash, leaving the days of claiming dole cheques truly in the past.

Controversy always seems to follow the two fighters around and despite breaking box-office and PPV records, rumours of cash trouble follows the 50-0 fighter.

The chance for Mayweather to make another outrageous pay-check by meeting McGregor once again suddenly makes a lot more sense and ‘easy money’ for the pound-for-pound great.

McGregor’s stock has certainly taken a beating thanks to two losses from his last three fights, Khabib Nurmagomedov strategically and brutally submitting him and Dustin Poirier leathering him at his own strike game most recently.

That being said, you just can’t rule out that these two know how to put on a show, so don’t be surprised if another monster pay-day beckons for either fighter from some avenue or another.

But the two master salesmen could still put aside their advancing years and dented reputations to make obscene money during a crippling recession.

The original was a PPV smash with 4.4m buys in the US and around 875,000 in the UK despite the twilight start time.

And with so few entertainment options to rival a possible event, it could end up being another bumper earner.

McGregor insists he will win a bonafide boxing world title before his career comes to a close.

And, although Mayweather currently holds no title and the sanctioning bodies do not allow title challenges instantly after a loss, the money on offer could be enough to bend any of the fight game’s flimsy rules and regulations.