Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Conor McGregor vs Khabib: Nurmagomedov calls out Floyd Mayweather for boxing fight

McGregor took on Mayweather last year and was beaten in the tenth round

Jack Watson
Sunday 14 October 2018 12:44 BST
Comments
Khabib jumps out the Octagon after beating Conor McGregor

After beating Conor McGregor to claim the UFC lightweight title, Khabib Nurmagomedov is now targeting a boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather and believes he can do better than the Irishman and beat the undefeated American.

Khabib forced McGregor into submission in round 4 at UFC 229, but the fight was overshadowed by ugly scenes when Khabib left the octagon to attack members of McGregors camp while the Russian's team made their way into the cage to charge the former champion as he recovered.

While McGregor ponders his next move, Khabib has announced that he wants to do better than he did against Mayweather, who stopped McGregor in the tenth round when the pair met in the ring in August 2017.

With Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather's promotion company, in earshot, Khabib called out the retired 41-year-old. "Hey let's go Floyd, we have to fight now," he said.

"50 and 0 versus 27 and 0, two guys that never lose. Let's got, why not? Because in the jungle only one king, only one king. Of course I am the king. Because he (Mayweather) cannot drop McGregor, but I drop him easily."

In response, Eberle suggested that there is potential to arrange the fight, saying: "You'll get some of that work baby."

UFC- Khabib Nurmagomedov apologies for post-fight melee after defeating Conor McGregor

Mayweather is not too familiar with Khabib and is impressed by his record, but was very critical of his shocking antics after the fight.

"I'm not too familiar with the guy McGregor was fighting, but I know the guy he was facing was undefeated," he said. "McGregor is a tough competitor but McGregor's opponent jumped out of the ring and was fighting people in the crowd so, very unprofessional."

Mayweather added that the scenes after the fight reminded him of the ring riot that followed his victory over Zab Judah in 2006 and expects Khabib to be heavily fined.

"It's going to be a huge fine I'm pretty sure because with my fight against Zab Judah, there was a crazy melee in the ring and a huge penalty, a huge fine. If I'm not mistaken, seven figures.

"Not to me, but could have been to Zab Judah or my uncle Roger or even Leonard Ellerbe, so I know when a guy's jumping out of the cage into the audience and fighting different people, the fine is going to be crazy."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in