Floyd Mayweather claims to have earned $9 million USD for his quickfire win over Tenshin Nasukawa at Rizin 14. Now a former opponent of the multiple time boxing world champion is fishing for a similar payday.
Conor McGregor took to Twitter today to announce that he had concrete plans to face Tenshin in an exhibition match:
I wish to go to Tokyo to face Tenshin Nasukawa in a Mixed Martial Arts exhibition bout.
Before this summer.
Please arrange this, this instant.
Yours sincerely
The champ champ. @ufc @ParadigmSM— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 7, 2019
Just like Mayweather, he is significantly larger than Tenshin and probably views an MMA exhibition bout against a man 30lbs lighter than him as an easy payday. Unlike Mayweather he has an exclusive contract with the UFC which would presumably prevent him from competing elsewhere.
The UFC did allow McGregor to face Mayweather in a boxing match that generated more revenue than any fight in history. But Dana White would be unlikely to give his biggest star permission to face an opponent who is relatively unknown outside of Japan.
McGregor appears to follow Asian MMA. He recently called out Chatri Sityodtong on Twitter and made the slightly bizarre demand that the ONE Championship CEO sign the entire UFC flyweight division in addition to securing the signature of Demetrious Johnson.
Perhaps more interesting than the demand for a fight with Tenshin, which McGregor must realize is far fetched, is the timescale in question. The Irishman says he wants the exhibition to take place ‘before the summer’ which could imply that he expects to fight for the UFC again in around six months time.
