With the kind of crazy money that is reportedly on offer to Floyd Mayweather and MMA star Khabib Nurmagomedov to get it on this year (the mega-money offer coming from rich folks in Saudi Arabia), it seems there is a very good chance we will indeed see the fight. Interested? Excited? Or neither?
We have of course seen Floyd box an MMA fighter under Sweet Science conditions before, with “Money” making “easy work” of MMA superstar Conor McGregor back in 2017, and many fans feel Mayweather would have a relatively easy time of things in a boxing match with Khabib. However, Khabib’s father has an interesting proposition: let his son box Mayweather in a 12-round fight, with the first 11 rounds being fought under boxing rules, the 12th and final round fought under MMA rules:
“Mayweather has statistics on fights of 50 wins and zero losses, 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 (Khabib set to fight Ferguson inan MMA clash in April). We said a long time ago, let us finish with Ferguson, after that we will work with [the team of Vasyl] Lomachenko for six months, 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,” reads Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s statement to Russian news outlet TASS.
An interesting idea, don’t you think? But will Floyd go for it? One round against Khabib under MMA rules would be quite the dangerous thing for Mayweather; even if it came after 11 potentially tiring and frustrating rounds for Khabib. But the bottom line is this: if there is to be serious fan interest in a second Mayweather Vs. MMA fighter event, there has to be an edge to to it, to make it sell.
Fans won’t buy another Mayweather boxing match against an MMA guy; not as many as bout the Mayweather-McGregor fight, anyway. But again, will Mayweather take this, a risky proposition? And if he did, would you then be prepared to pay to see this fight? Would Floyd be able to get through a single round of MMA fighting? Would he dare try?
