Given all the hype leading up to this fight, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather put on a pretty good show last night in a bout that had some very interesting moments.

McGregor came out and seemed liked he was controlling the action in the early rounds. Of course, Mayweather was sizing up his unpredictable opponent, but he was extremely cautious and didn’t seem to be quite up to his championship form. Perhaps age and size would be a factor?

The early rounds added some excitement for the large number of betters that placed their money on the underdog. Who knows what motivation drove all these bets. Many of course love the underdog – it’s always more fun in Vegas to hope for the big payout, versus the approach of pro betters who carefully weigh the odds. Also, you had the Irish fans who love Conor and the fans hoping to embarrass the boxing world. All that led to a ridiculous amount of money coming in on Conor, and the Vegas sportsbooks looking at a debacle if somehow Conor could pull out a victory.

But then reality started to set in. As Conor started to tire, Floyd started to force the action. Despite all the talk of Conor being a big puncher, it became clear that Floyd didn’t fear those punches at all. Floyd started to do some damage with his own punches, and then the length of the boxing match format started to wear on the MMA hero. By the late rounds, it became clear that Conor had little left, other than his big heart.

Some say the fight was stopped too soon, and that is understandable given Conor’s MMA background, but this fight was over. It was just a matter of how much more punishment Conor could endure. Had he fought a younger Floyd or a younger contender, this boxing rookie would have suffered an epic beating.

Still, the fighter put on a pretty good show. Bob Ley of ESPN called it a “long con” as he dismissed the fight, but the fight delivered an interesting battle between two fighters from completely different worlds. I’ve seen much worse . . .