After inciting a brawl after UFC 229, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor were temporarily suspended until the Nevada Athletic Commission could investigate the matter. Later this week, the NAC is holding a hearing where they are expected to submit their ruling, after which, both fighters should be eligible to compete one again. McGregor seemingly has his sights set on a battle with Donald Cerrone but Nurmagomedov, at least publicly, has been weighing his options. The most obvious choice is to once again try and fight Tony Ferguson but the most lucrative is a fight that is stirring up some controversy among the MMA fanbase, a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.

Khabib has been teasing a potential crossover fight with Mayweather since he submitted McGregor at UFC 229 and just last week, doubled down on the idea, saying that he probably only has three fights left before he retires and he’d like for one of them to be a boxing match against Mayweather. Mayweather seems only too happy to oblige the UFC lightweight champion but not everyone thinks it is such a great idea, including UFC commentator Joe Rogan.

On the most recent edition of his Joe Rogan Experience Fight Companion podcast, Rogan talked with Eddie Bravo and Brendan Schaub about the potential superfight, saying he’d prefer if Khabib stuck to MMA.

“I think it’s a terrible move for [Khabib] to fight Floyd,” said Rogan. “Floyd is the best boxer, maybe of our era, maybe of all time. He’s undefeated.”

Though Nurmagomedov is primarily a grappler, he and his team feel confident that they can beat Mayweather in a boxing ring, in part because of Khabib’s success on the feet against McGregor. Khabib dropped McGregor with an overhand right in the second round of their fight, and considering the success McGregor had against Mayweather, Khabib’s team feels that they can take advantage of the boxer, especially since he’s not getting any younger.

Of course, whether or not Khabib can win is secondary to the real point of this kind of superfight, driving pay-per-view sales, and though Rogan thinks Khabib would get “battered” by Mayweather, he also thinks the lightweight champion would be well compensated for it.

“I think if Khabib stepped in and tried to fight Floyd right now, right now, if they tried to set it up in two months, I guarantee you it would sell at least a million PPV buys,” said Rogan. “A million. It does a million.

“Here’s the thing, who was Floyd’s - was it [Manny] Pacquiao and then [Andre Berto] and then retired, right? And [Manny] Pacquiao got the giant, most PPV numbers ever, but then [Andre Berto], if I’m correct, only got a few hundred thousand, like 300,000 PPV buys. . .

“So he fights Andre Berto, that only gets like 350,000 or something like that, then he fights Conor and it’s millions of PPVs, if he fought Khabib, it would still be better than fighting any of those other guys.”

As it stands, the UFC has only ever had 15 fights break the 1M PPV mark (16 if you count their role in the Mayweather-McGregor ‘Moneyfight’), so if Rogan is correct, Mayweather vs. Khabib is one of the most lucrative fights the UFC can make at this moment, and one with very little downside for the UFC. If Khabib wins, he’s the biggest star in the sport, and when he loses, it doesn’t knock much of the shine off of him. Perhaps even more importantly, the fight would give McGregor time to rebound from his loss, setting up a potential rematch, the most lucrative fight the UFC can make right now.

All the UFC needs now if for the NAC to allow Khabib to get back to fighting.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Results. Ryan Bader knocks out Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 214 to become double champion.

Loss. Aaron Pico reflects on knockout loss to Henry Corrales: ‘It sucks bad’.

Funky. Ben Askren vows to put a ‘big brothering’ on Khabib Nurmagomedov after comment.

Huh? Rory MacDonald says he lacked drive, hunger against Gegard Mousasi.

Star-Lord. Adel Altamimi says teammates Chris Pratt, Wiz Khalifa would be quality pro fighters.

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VIDEO STEW

Bellator 214 post-fight show.

Bellator 214 highlights.

LFA 58 highlights.

UFC Connected.

Bader-Fedor.

Ortega says he’s almost 100% again.

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LISTEN UP

6th Round. Immediate post-fight reaction to Bellator 214.

Severe MMA. Discussing Bellator 214, Jon Jones, and Holloway throwing shade.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Max is a hero.

How long until Vitor is fighting in Bellator?

Darren had himself a weekend.

#wouldwatch

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Klidson Abreu (14-2) vs. Magomed Ankalaev (10-1); UFC Prague; Feb. 23.

Bibiano Fernandes (22-4) vs. Kevin Belingon (20-5); ONE Championship, March 31.

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (9-0) vs. Veta Arteaga (5-2); Bellator San Jose, Apri 27.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Jordan Breen pointed out a remarkable thing about Bader’s run through this tournament.

That’s right, you, dear reader, took as many punches as Ryan Bader did during this Grand Prix. He f*cking perfected this whole thing. That’s insane. Now I wish the UFC would give us a one-off crossover fight with him and DC. Two champs, four belts.

Anyway, thanks for reading, enjoy the fights, and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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