The father of Khabib Nurmagomedov has laid out the terms for a mega-fight between his son and Floyd Mayweather, with one bizarre condition.
Khabib will defend his UFC lightweight title against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 on April 18.
He’s held the title since he beat Al Iaquinta back in 2018, with successful defences against Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.
View this post on Instagram
‘Something Spectacular’
And once he’s defended his belt for a third time in New York, Khabib will look to follow in McGregor’s footsteps and schedule a fight with the undefeated boxing veteran.
Mayweather recently announced he’s working with UFC president Dana White on ‘something spectacular’ for fans, and teased a crossover event with the Russian by posting a mock-up fight poster on Instagram.
And Khabib’s team have now responded by confirming their interest in a mega-bout, but with a catch.
View this post on Instagram
Hybrid
The Russian camp wants a hybrid fight which consists of 11 rounds of boxing and 1 round of MMA rules.
Speaking to TASS, Khabib’s father said Khabib is more than willing to face Mayweather once he’s dealt with Tony Ferguson.
“Mayweather has statistics on fights of 50 wins and zero losses,” he said.
“He is the greatest in boxing and he wants to fight with the same champion who did not lose a single fight,”
“With Khabib, everything is fine, but now we have Tony Ferguson on the line.”
View this post on Instagram
‘Any Day, Anywhere’
He revealed that once UFC 249 is out of the way, Khabib will undergo training with Ukrainian boxer Vaily Lomachenko before facing ‘Money’ anywhere he wants.
The only condition is that they reach a compromise on the rules of the fight.
“We said a long time ago: let us finish with Tony, after that we will work with Lomachenko for six months,” he continued.
“Then there will be a boxing fight.”
“We offer any day anywhere, with only one condition,”
“11 rounds in boxing and one in mixed martial arts.”
“We will stand 11 rounds against the best boxer, so why not go one round according to the rules of MMA with us? But all things will happen after Tony.”
View this post on Instagram
MMA-yweather
Mayweather has participated in crossover fights before, however they’ve always seen opponents from other domains enter the ring.
In August 2017, Conor McGregor left the Octagon to step into the ring with Money, who stopped him in the 10th round via TKO.
The four-weight champion then travelled to Japan to destroy kickboxer Tensin Nasukawa in just 139 seconds on NYE 2018.
Mayweather was criticised heavily for the mismatch exhibition, with 19-year-old Nasukawa weighing in 4kg lighter and not standing a chance against the undefeated boxing veteran.
There have been multiple calls for Mayweather to make the transition into MMA.
McGregor has long fought for a rematch, and it’s questioned whether Mayweather would stand a chance were the roles reversed.
With Khabib’s offer, could we finally see Mayweather accept an MMA(ish) fight?
(Featured image source: Instagram/ Khabib Nurmagomedov and Floyd Mayweather)