{"id":892841,"date":"2026-09-15T11:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T11:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892841\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T11:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T11:56:11","slug":"islam-makhachev-predicts-how-conor-mcgregor-boxing-match-would-play-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892841\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev predicts how Conor McGregor boxing match would play out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trending:<a class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/mike-perry\/mike-perry-speaks-out-after-suffering-injury-during-upset-loss-to-brandon-jenkins-health-is-wealth\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mike Perry speaks out after suffering injury during upset loss to Brandon Jenkins: \u201cHealth is wealth\u201d<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MixCollage-08-Jul-2026-12-50-PM-7102-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"nlz w-full h-auto wp-post-image\" alt=\"Conor McGregor and Islam Makhachev\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   data-eio=\"p\"\/>Credit: Cooper Neill\/Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n<p>UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev would entertain a crossover boxing match with one man: Conor McGregor.<\/p>\n<p>UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev and Conor McGregor\u2019s careers were linked forever when McGregor lost to Makhachev\u2019s mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, at UFC 229. Makhachev was a rising lightweight prospect at the time of the fight and was in Nurmagomedov\u2019s corner as he tapped out McGregor in their heated grudge match.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2026, Makhachev and McGregor have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/islam-makhachev-shares-positive-reaction-to-conor-mcgregors-mma-return-but-warns-of-tough-opponent-max-holloway\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">repeatedly teased a future fight<\/a> for months. Makhachev recently hinted at potentially fighting in Zuffa Boxing once his UFC career concludes, after an appearance at one of the promotion\u2019s first events.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their checkered pasts, Makhachev and McGregor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/conor-mcgregor-islam-makhachev-surprising-praise\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">don\u2019t share nearly the animosity<\/a> that McGregor shares with Nurmagomedov. But that hasn\u2019t stopped Makhachev from entertaining the possibility of clashing with McGregor in a crossover super fight.<\/p>\n<p>Islam Makhachev: Conor McGregor only \u2018dangerous in Round 1\u2019 in Boxing<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5_pbXz0L4rE?si=UE62IbVg0XRDivo3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ushatayka<\/a>, Makhachev was asked about a potential boxing match against McGregor.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, if I say he\u2019s not dangerous at all, that would be wrong,\u201d Makhachev said of McGregor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s dangerous, yes, in the first round. But after that, I don\u2019t think he has much of a chance. When it comes to boxing, they pay very good money. I\u00a0don\u2019t know [how much I want].<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, regardless of money, I\u2019d box specifically against Conor.\u201d (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/09\/14\/islam-makhachev-my-boxing-match-with-conor-mcgregor-would-only-be-dangerous-for-three-minutes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bloody Elbow<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>As of this writing, McGregor hasn\u2019t responded to Makhachev\u2019s comments. His UFC 329 comeback earlier this year was cut short just seconds into the fight, as he suffered a serious right leg injury.<\/p>\n<p>Despite back-to-back fights that ended in serious injury, McGregor still envisions a return to combat sports in 2027. Don\u2019t be surprised if Makhachev is one of the potential opponents brought up by McGregor and his team.<\/p>\n<p>How would an Islam Makhachev vs. Conor McGregor boxing match play out? Share your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-1 mt-0 os-source\">This article appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BJPENN.COM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trending:Mike Perry speaks out after suffering injury during upset loss to Brandon Jenkins: \u201cHealth is wealth\u201dCredit: Cooper Neill\/Jeff&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,4736,27140,785,85,787],"class_list":["post-892841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-islam-makhachev","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}