By Luke Furman
World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman believes a potential fight between Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov would be a huge financial hit.
As BoxingScene.com previously reported, UFC president Dana White confirmed on ESPN's "Get Up!" on Thursday that he had met with Mayweather's team members to discuss a potential fight with Khabib.
But White doubts the fight will happen, because he'll only sign off on the bout if Mayweather agrees to face Khabib in the UFC.
White will not allow Khabib to face Mayweather in a boxing match.
"I actually had a meeting yesterday in Los Angeles about this," White said. "I don't want to say anything that makes it sound like, 'Oh wow, this could happen.' But we had talks yesterday. I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think the fight would happen in the UFC, but they didn't say no.
"Listen, if Mayweather wants to fight, come fight. You fight in the UFC. We're not boxing him. We did that once. That's over. You want to fight? You come fight a real fight."
Mayweather, 41 and a five division world champion, retired from boxing in August of 2017 after stopped another UFC star, Conor McGregor, in ten rounds. Mayweather maintains a perfect 50-0 record.
Last month, Khabib reached a perfect record of 27-0, after submitting McGregor in four rounds.
When Mayweather faced McGregor, Sulaiman sanctioned the contest for a special WBC "Money" belt.
And he appears to have no problem with Mayweather facing Khabib in the ring.
“Floyd Mayweather has constantly announced that he was ready to enter the ring again. He's mentioned Manny Pacquiao, Khabib, Canelo and so on. I don't know if this is true, but Floyd is always full of surprises. In my opinion, Floyd’s fight with Conor McGregor was unique, it was one for the rest of his life. Although, of course, if Floyd and Khabib arrange a fight, they will do very well at the box office,” Sulaiman told Vasily Konov.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
