Dubai: Michael Phelps reckons he could beat Conor McGregor in 100-metre swim even if the Irishman got a 50-metre headstart.
The retired US swimmer recently tweeted the MMA star after his boxing defeat to Floyd Mayweather last month to say: “All this talk … Should we race as well?”
“Everyone retweeted it, but I said it as a joke,” he said.
“If he wants to swim great, I don’t care, I’ll race him.
“If I trained for a year or six months I could do 48 seconds, I don’t see him breaking a minute. I’d probably beat him if he had a 50-metre head start. Phelps previously raced basketball player Shaq O’Neal for a TV series called ‘Shaq Vs.’ in 2009.
“When I raced Shaq, I beat him with a broken foot. I forgot how we handicapped it, I think he was in a relay with Olympic swimmers against me doing a 200-metre individual medley and it ended up a close thing. But, I couldn’t kick with my right foot because I had been in a car accident.
“I’d definitely exercise the option to have a conversation with him [McGregor] if he wants to swim. I think it’s cool because it shows how hard it is to do other sports.
“The Mayweather-McGregor fight was great, I knew it would be hard for him because Floyd is pretty damn good. I’d probably get my [expletive] kicked if I got into the ring with him [McGregor]. I think it’s cool to see athletes challenging each other in other sports.
“Even in golf I would get my [expletive] kicked by everyone on tour. I played Jordan Spieth, he’s a plus six and I’m a nine, so he’s giving me 15-16 shots and still killing me. That’s the cool thing about sports, it’s interesting to see.”
