Islam Makhachev walked out of UFC 330 with his welterweight title intact and a 17th straight win on his record, but not without a price. The champion absorbed enough damage against Ian Garry to be sent for multiple MRI scans and now faces a different kind of fight: dealing with lingering spinal issues before he can even think about the next contender.
Carlos Prates. Michael Morales. The line of hungry welterweights is already forming. Yet the most intriguing name orbiting around Makhachev right now doesn’t belong to a rising prospect or a division rival.
It’s Conor McGregor. And it’s not in the cage.
A Saudi pitch and an unlikely proposal
The idea didn’t come from a promoter in Las Vegas or a late-night social media callout. It came from Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi power broker who has turned the kingdom into a combat sports superstage.
At the Zuffa 9 boxing event in August, where Makhachev was in attendance, Alalshikh put McGregor on a video call. Somewhere between the pleasantries and the spectacle, a question surfaced: what about Makhachev vs. McGregor in a boxing ring?
That seed has clearly taken root. Speaking to Ushatayka, Makhachev didn’t brush the idea aside as a stunt. He leaned into it. Not as a cash grab, but as a test he believes he’s more than ready for.
Money, he insisted, would not be the driving force.
Asked how dangerous McGregor would be in a pure boxing setting—especially coming off ACL and meniscus surgery and a long list of injury setbacks—Makhachev refused to dismiss him outright.
“Well, if I say he's not dangerous at all, it would be wrong,” he said. “Yes, maybe he's dangerous in the first round, but after that I don't think he has any chance.”
That’s not trash talk. It’s a cold, confident read from a champion who believes his own evolution on the feet changes the equation.
“Regardless of the purse, I’d box”
The interviewer pushed where every promoter would: the purse. Seven figures? Eight? What would it take to lure Makhachev into a boxing ring with McGregor?
“I don't know. When it comes to boxing, they pay very good money,” Makhachev replied.
Then he cut to the point.
“I don't know. Honestly, regardless of the purse I'd box. Specifically against Conor, yes.”
No elaborate negotiation posture. No public bidding war. Just a champion stating that the opponent, not the paycheck, is the lure.
For McGregor, the timing is far less flattering. The Irishman is deep into the back nine of his career and coming off a brutal ACL and meniscus tear suffered in his comeback bout at UFC 329. His body has absorbed years of punishment, his schedule has been sporadic, and his aura is no longer what it was when he terrorized two divisions.
Yet his name still moves the sport.
McGregor’s boxing shadow and Makhachev’s rise
McGregor’s lone professional boxing outing still carries weight. In 2017, he went 10 rounds with Floyd Mayweather, the defensive master of this generation. Mayweather eventually broke him down, but McGregor showed enough early craft and timing to prove he could at least operate in that world.
That was nearly a decade ago. Since then, the miles have piled up. So have the injuries.
Makhachev, meanwhile, has grown from a suffocating grappler into a far more complete striker. His confidence on the feet has surged over the course of his UFC run, and he now talks about stand-up exchanges not as a risk to be managed but as a weapon he’s willing to lean on.
A boxing match between them would no longer be the prime McGregor puzzle against a raw, wrestling-heavy challenger. It would be a meeting of two men at very different stages: one trying to prove there’s still some old magic left in his hands, the other eager to show that his new tools can travel into another sport.
On paper, it remains a long shot. Makhachev must first heal his back and return to defend his title against a queue of legitimate welterweight threats. McGregor must recover, recommit, and actually make it to another big-stage fight.
But Alalshikh has made a habit of turning fantasy matchups into real events. If he decides to chase this one, the conversation won’t stay hypothetical for long.
If Makhachev does stride through the ropes to face McGregor under boxing rules, it won’t just be about money or spectacle. It will be a collision of eras—one man fighting to extend his legend, the other intent on proving that his own has only just begun.
