John Kavanagh: Conor McGregor was offered $5M to fight Chinese kickboxer

With the combat sports rumor mill buzzing about Floyd Mayweather’s on-again-off-againexhibition bout with Japanese star Tenshin Nasukawa, it’s only natural that his rivals might be feeling left out.

That may explain why John Kavanagh dropped a rumor of his own in a recent interview about his student and good friend Conor McGregor, who just so happened to be the other half of Mayweather’s August 2017 crossover boxing bout that did blockbuster numbers. The former UFC two-division champion has already weighed in on Mayweather’s potential Rizin Fighting Federation meeting with Nasukawa, and now his coach is saying that “The Notorious” is no stranger to receiving wild offers himself.

“I had a guy message me just a few days ago — a Chinese kickboxer [who] wanted to do three rounds with Conor for $5 million,” Kavanagh said on The True Geordie Podcast, according toExpress.co.uk. “And he was going to put it in escrow. It wasn’t like he was just [joking]. Because again, I get a million messages like that a day, but you just don’t pay attention [to them]. But this guy was connected and it was a legitimate offer. But I know he wouldn’t [do it].”

It’s unknown if McGregor’s UFC contract would even allow him to accept an exhibition bout of that nature (the UFC worked closely with McGregor to make the Mayweather bout happen), not to mention the fact that his next foray into the Octagon is in question as he awaits a verdict from the Nevada Athletic Commission in regards to the post-fight brawl that occurred after his loss toKhabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.

Since McGregor’s team apparently declined the exhibition offer, it’s a moot point, but Kavanagh is still tickled that his fighter is considered for these unorthodox opportunities.

“You get the odd funny message like that. And like I said, it was a genuine [offer],” Kavanagh said. “I know the boxing promoter well and he’s very well known. So he wasn’t going to come with an offer that wasn’t legitimate.”