By Edward Chaykovsky
Two weeks ago, former world champion Amir Khan (31-4, 19KOs) revealed his interest in fighting UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor.
Earlier this year it was Floyd Mayweather Jr. who was talking up the possibility of facing McGregor - but under traditional boxing rules.
Khan is looking to take things one step further - by actually fighting McGregor under MMA rules in the UFC's cage.
But now Khan has disclosed a contractual catch - it would have to be a two fight deal - one fight under MMA rules and one fight in a boxing ring.
Khan, 29-years-old, has been out of the ring since suffering a brutal sixth round knockout at the hands of then WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in May. McGregor suffered a shock defeat to Nate Diaz in March. The two of them are scheduled to fight again this coming Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Khan will be an interested observer.
“This isn’t just for publicity, it’s real. Conor has been talking about fighting a boxer. He wanted to fight Floyd Mayweather, but Mayweather didn’t want it. If me and Conor were going to do it, we’d do one boxing and one MMA. It would be a two-fight deal and would definitely work," Khan told Gavin Glicksman of Sun Sport.
“Boxing is my first priority, but big deals have been thrown at me for MMA. I love trying new sports out and maybe there could be something that happens in the future — if the deal is good enough, why not? Conor’s got a big fight ahead of him against Diaz, but let’s see. It would take me six to eight months to prepare. It would be a lot of hard training and I would focus on MMA. I can kick quite hard!”
