Top 5 MMA and boxing superfights fans dream of seeing in 2020
- MMA champions are calling for boxing superfights after Mayweather vs McGregor opened the floodgates in 2017
- The potential fights are ranked from least to most likely to be booked
We all scoffed when former UFC double champion Conor McGregor called out the generation's greatest boxer, Floyd Mayweather, back in 2017. But look what happened: star power plus big bucks equals dream match-up. Be you primarily an MMA or boxing fan, McGregor and Mayweather drilled the hype in before treating us to 10 rounds of combat Top Trumps.
Now we see the UFC peppered with boxing-based MMA champions, who, post-McGregor era, are unafraid to call their shot and push for the one-in-a-million superfight.
Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic thinks he can take on lineal boxing heavyweight Tyson Fury, while Sambo-wrestling-based lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has been calling Mayweather out for over a year. As far-fetched as they may sound, or as a “disgrace” as it is to the name of boxing, chances are you will tune in if super-promoters Dana White and Eddie Hearn hop on board.
Some MMA champions have already turned their noses up at the prospect of a crossover. “Why would I come to the proving ground of all fighting … and then afterward, fight a guy and take away like 80 per cent of my weapons?” UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya asked on the Ebro in the Morning radio show last month.
While the likelihood of many of these fights are “not the priority”, as per Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, they demonstrate the increased convergence in combat sports and offer refreshing alternatives to defending titles or going for the “double champ” status.
The following dream crossover fights have not simply been plucked out of thin air – either an MMA fighter has called the boxer out (or vice versa) or rumours have surrounded the pair this year. They are ranked from least to most likely to happen.
