Steven Ryan / Jerritt Clark / Getty
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is still riding the high of his victory against Conor McGregor at UFC 229, and he’s calling out another prominent member of the combat sports community—retired pro boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Sound familiar?
Just two weeks after the McGregor-Khabib title fight ended in a brutal neck crank from the Russian fighter and a tapout from McGregor, Nurmagomedov ran into none other than Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, at a boxing event in Russia. The two took an Instagram video in which Nurmagomedov had some choice words for Mayweather.
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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
"In the jungle, [there is] only one king," Nurmagomedov said in the video. "Of course, I am the king. He cannot drop McGregor, but I dropped him easily." He's referring to the fact that Mayweather didn't drop McGregor in their 2017 megafight, but Mayweather has since admitted that he "carried McGregor."
Nurmagomedov was laughing throughout the video and seemed to be messing around, but we wouldn’t put it past him to seriously challenge the boxer. Mayweather even responded to the challenge via Instagram.
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CBS, Showtime and MGM Grand get the checkbook out! Go to @leonardellerbe ‘s page to view Khabib Nurmagomedov challenging me. LET’S MAKE LAS VEGAS GREAT AGAIN! #CBS #SHOWTIME #MGMGRAND #MayweatherPromotions
A post shared by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Oct 15, 2018 at 7:26am PDT
Whether the fighters are joking or not, it’s impossible to forget that McGregor’s trash talk literally led to a boxing match with the now 51-0 Mayweather—and a massive payday for both parties. Sure, McGregor lost, but no one expected him to win, and he made more money than he'd ever seen from a UFC fight. Many combat sports fans criticized the fight, saying it was bad for boxing, but neither fighter seemed to have any complaints.
If that were to happen again, Nurmagomedov would have some work to do. He may have dropped McGregor with a right hand during UFC 229, but he’s a fighter known for his ground game. In a boxing ring with Mayweather, that wouldn’t matter. Let's just hope it's all in good fun and Nurmagomedov sticks to the Octagon.
Speaking of which, McGregor wants a rematch with Nurmagomedov, and it may be in UFC president Dana White’s best interest. UFC 229 demolished the MMA record for pay-per-views, which are currently estimated at about 2.4 million, according to mmafighting.com.
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