Joseph Duffy fought for the final time under his UFC deal when he defeated Reza Madadi by decision at UFC Fight Night 107.
Duffy was also the second fighter to ever defeat UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor. Even with that historical win against a fellow Irishman, the lightweight believes that McGregor has a chance to defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr in a boxing match.
“I think in combat sports, there’s always a puncher’s chance,” Duffy said on The MMA Hour. “In MMA, boxing, there’s always that puncher’s chance.”
The Irishman, Artemij Sitenkov and Nate Diaz are the only fighters to ever defeat McGregor.
If the potential fight between Mayweather and McGregor does go the distance, it will play to the favor of the boxer in Duffy’s opinion.
“I feel that Floyd is probably used to getting in there with bigger hitters than Conor. Boxers, them boxers really do hit (hard),” he said. “On the scorecards, I really feel it’s a landslide towards Floyd. He’s one of the best of all time. How he made Pacquiao look — and Pacquiao is one of the best boxers we’ve seen in a long time — I think that just proves the level he’s at. Canelo’s probably a bigger hitter than Conor, (look) how he boxed him. It’s different. It takes a while to get into that sport, and to get up to par. I think if he pursued boxing for a long time, he could’ve done very well, definitely, but Floyd has been doing this since he was a child. I really just can’t see it going any other way.”
During his five fight run in the UFC, the Irishman earned a 4-1-0 record and he potentially ends his UFC tenure on a two fight winning streak.