UFC President Dana White takes questions from the media during the UFC 229 Press Conference at Radio City Music Hall on September 20, 2018 in New York City. Steven Ryan/Getty Images/AFP
UFC president Dana White isn’t promising anything, but it seems like progress has been made regarding a possible fight between boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC World lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In an interview with ESPN’s Get Up!, h/t to BoxingScene.com, White said that he met with Mayweather’s team on Wednesday in Los Angeles to discuss the fight between the undefeated boxer and Nurmagomedov.
“I don’t want to say anything that makes it sound like, ‘oh wow, this could happen,’ but we had talks yesterday,” said White.
Mayweather already had a crossover fight with the UFC when he stopped Conor McGregor in 10 rounds atop a boxing ring in August of 2017.
The fight drew 4.3 million pay-per-view buys, second only to Mayweather’s mega fight against Manny Pacquiao in May of 2015 that drew 4.7 million buys.
White, however, was adamant that if Mayweather wants to fight Nurmagomedov, it has to happen inside the UFC’s Octagon.
“We went over there, we boxed him,” said White. “If he wants to do it again, he has to come to the UFC, I don’t think it’s realistic at all but I didn’t think the [McGregor] boxing match was either. So we’ll see.”
The potential fight between Mayweather and Nurmagomedov first gained traction when Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe came together with the mixed martial arts champion in a boxing event in Russia.
A video, which has since gone viral, showed Nurmagomedov challenging Mayweather to a match with the five-division boxing champion accepting the call a day later.
White said Mayweather has a reason on why he wants to fight UFC fighters.
“There’s a reason Floyd Mayweather wants to fight my guys, there’s big money there for him,” said White. “Obviously there’s big money there for us, but I’m not into making those kind of fights.”
“If Floyd wants to come over here—he says he’s been wrestling and doing this or that—if he wants to come over and fight in the UFC, he’s more than welcome.”