By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. confirmed earlier today that he’ll be facing UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov and possibly Conor MacGregor on the same night in a boxing event this year that will earn him approximately $600 million.

The fight or fights haven’t been made official, and it’s unclear whether the retired 43-year-old Mayweather came up with the $600 million figure that he believes he’ll be making for the fight/fights.

Mayweather will need MMA fans to purchase the Khabib fight in high numbers

For Mayweather to make that kind of money, it’ll depend HEAVILY on the MMA fans to order the fight on pay-per-view. Boxing fans are already wise to Mayweather’s mismatches involving MMA fighters after watching him defeat McGregor in 2017.

You can argue that the boxing public is now jaded when it comes to Mayweather’s high-priced contests against UFC guys, and they’re not likely to buy any more of them.

If there was a chance that Khabib could win, fans would be interested. The way Khabib looks when he’s fighting in the stand-up position, he resembles a wrestler and not a boxer. Mayweather is going to toy with him before destroying him.

Mayweather: I’m NOT retired from making money

“Like I said before, ‘I’m retired but I’m not retired from getting a couple of dollars,'” said Mayweather in responding to a question about his Instagram in which he posted a photo of him and UFC president Dana White, saying, ‘Something spectacular is coming in 2020.’ “It’s crazy. You guys hear things about ‘Floyd needs money.’

“I don’t need nothing but I don’t mind making some more money. When you got billionaire airline guys like the guy that owns United or different guys like billionaires. Apple is still making billions. Apple is still making money. When Apple went out and made billions, they didn’t say, ‘You know what, we have already made three or four billion, now we’re going to stop,'” said Mayweather.

You can’t fault Mayweather for wanting to continue to make money providing entertainment to the fans. What you can dispute is the low level of entertainment that Mayweather’s fights bring for his contests against MMA fighters.

The fights aren’t competitive, and nor are they entertaining. Unless MMA fans are willing to order the Mayweather-Khabib fight, it could bring in poor PPV numbers, which might signal the end of Floyd’s hybrid fights.

The 31-year-old Nurmagomedov (28-0, 8 KOs) is the unbeaten UFC lightweight champion and one of the biggest stars in the sport of MMA. Last year, the Khabib defeated former two-division UFC champion, MacGregor, by a 4th round submission at UFC 229 on October 6.

Floyd confirms he’s fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov next

“They keep on making more billions. So if I’m able to entertain the world and have some fun, and this is easy entertainment and I can make $600 million with two guys [Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor], why not? Somebody said I hope not,” said Mayweather when asked ‘are we going to see Floyd Mayweather and Khabib.’ “At the end of the day, when that bank account and when that wire comes, my kids are going to be like, ‘Dad, I’m proud of you.’

“So I talked about this earlier; self-preservation comes first. I must take care of my home first, and I believe in creating generational wealth. So if I can go get $600 more million invested and leave it to my children and my grandchildren and my loved ones, why not? Absolutely,” said Mayweather in confirming that he’ll be fighting Khabib next.

It’ll be interesting to see how Mayweather, Khabib and the UFC sells the fight. If fans get 2 for 1 with Mayweather fighting both Khabib and McGregor on the same night, it might be more intriguing. That’s a pure circus even though. The fans would be tipped off immediately when they hear that Mayweather is fighting McGregor and Khabib on the same night, and that looks bad.

To make it a fair fight, Khabib and/or McGregor have to use some of their MMA skills against Mayweather. If not, then they’ll stand no chance of beating Mayweather. They wouldn’t stand a chance of beating even an old journeyman boxer. Mayweather might as well be setting up a fight against NFL quarterback Tom Brady because it’ll be about as competitive.

Khabib isn’t the greatest trash talker, so it’s important that McGregor be part of the package for Mayweather. The fight won’t sell if Mayweather is fighting a guy that is hard to understand.

Mayweather explains why he fought Conor McGregor

“Because I’m a businessman,” said Mayweather when asked why he fought Conor MacGregor. “As I said before, I believe in working smarter, not harder. I am a businessman. So I’m sitting at home like this and I said, ‘I know I made $300 million with [Manny] Pacquiao.’ So I said this to myself, ‘I may make another $300 million. It’s possible.

“So you know what I’m going to do. I spoke with my friend James McNear,’ the guy this tour up. I spoke with him and I said, ‘I think the MacGregor fight can happen,’ and then I called Al Haymon. And Al Haymon said, ‘Are you sure, Floyd?’ I said, ‘I think we’re on to something.’ On the day of the fight, I woke up feeling good. And I woke up…sitting back at my house in my silk pajamas.

“I was like, it feels so good to set up. I just call it entertainment to just set up and drive down the street eight miles to pick up $350 million dollars in 28 minutes. If I can do that again, am I going to do that again? Absolutely because I’m a businessman and I’m smart,” said Mayweather.

It’s pretty clear why Mayweather picked McGregor to fight in 2017. His career was basically over with by 2017, and he would have likely lost if he fought the top welterweights like Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford in boxing. So instead of coming back to the sport, Mayweather hand-picked McGregor from the UFC for a fight.

Mayweather vs. Khabib needs to provide value for fans

The Mayweather-McGregor fight made money due to the popularity of the two, but it wasn’t entertaining to watch. In fact, it was a boring fight. A lot of boxing and MMA fans were disappointed at not getting value for the money they sunk into watching it.

If Mayweather is going to fight Khabib and McGregor on the same night, they need to set up a good undercard to attract boxing fans. It’s no good for fans to watch two terrible fights involving wrestlers like Khabivb and McGregor, who don’t have clue one in how to box, getting beaten up by Mayweather. Boxing fans need a reason to watch these mismatches, and one of doing that is including an excellent undercard. If fans are expected to pay $100 to order Mayweather’s fights against Khabib and McGregor, a great undercard is a must.

For Mayweather’s fight against McGregor in 2017, these were the poor fights on the undercard:

Gervonta Davis vs. Francisco Fonseca
Badou Jack vs. Nathan Cleverly
Yordenis Ugas vs. Thomas Dulorme
Andrew Tabiti vs. Steve Cunningham
Juan Heraldez vs. Jose Miguel Borrego
Kevin Newman II vs. Mark Anthony Hernandez
Savannah Marshall vs. Sydney LeBlanc

Gervonta destroyed Fonseca, Badou easily beat Cleverly, Ugas defeated Dulorme and Tabiti outclassed Cunningham. Those were not great fights.