We thought it couldn’t get much bigger, money-wise, than Floyd Mayweather fighting Conor McGregor.
But Mayweather has responded to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s challenge by saying the Russian must “come to my world”, meaning that it has to be a boxing match and not MMA, and that he make even more money than the much-criticised event against McGregor.
This all comes after Nurmagomedov destroyed McGregor with a fourth-round victory by submission at UFC 229 a few weeks.
And the chaos that erupted outside the octagon has only fuelled the interest for Mayweather to come face-to-face with the ‘Eagle of Dagestan’.
Mayweather earned a reported $300 million for last August’s showdown with McGregor, who got about $100 million, in an event dubbed ‘The Money Fight’, but which didn’t capture the boxing world’s imagination as the Irishman ran out of steam the longer it went on.
Nurmagomedov called out Mayweather at a boxing event in Russia a few days ago.
He told the American’s business partner Leonard Ellerbe: “Let’s go Floyd, we have to fight now. 50-0 versus 27-0. Two guys never, never like lose – let’s go, why not?
“Because in the jungle, only one king. Of course I am the king! Because he cannot drop McGregor, but I dropped him easily. That’s why, let’s go.”
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Look who I ran into at tonight’s fights in Russia.
A post shared by Leonard Ellerbe(@leonardellerbe) on Oct 13, 2018 at 7:00pm PDT
But Mayweather, while out shopping in Beverly Hills, told American TV station TMZ Sports: “I’m my own boss. I can’t say what’s happening on Khabib’s end, but on my end, we can make it happen. He called me out, so he’s got to come to my world.
“I saw on the interview, when he hit Conor McGregor, he hit Conor McGregor down. And he said I didn’t knock Conor McGregor down. But… okay, Khabib, you got my leftovers. Whoopi-doo!
“When I face Khabib, of course, I’m getting a nine-figure payday. It’s more than the McGregor fight – probably 100 million dollars more. That’s a guarantee.”
Watch Floyd Mayweather speak to TMZ Sports below…
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