Boxing Star Amir Khan Thinks He Could Beat Conor McGregor In MMA Fight

Amir Khan

Former two-time boxing world champion Amir Khan is on the brink of a huge title fight with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Las Vegas on Saturday night, but the 29 year-old has found to discuss his interest in possibly competing in MMA at some stage in the future.

“I already have a stake in a company called Super Fight League, which is an MMA company in India and we have a lot of shows in Dubai too,” Khan told The Daily Star.

“We’re now moving over into America and putting on shows there. Bellator and UFC are the two main MMA companies, we’re probably third after those.”

That last point is highly debatable, but nevertheless, the interesting thing is that Khan, who holds a 31-3 professional boxing record, isn’t ruling out the possibility that he could one day try his hand at the sport.

“You never know what will happen in the future – I’d never say no to getting into MMA. My speed would be perfect, it’s hit and move. And I can kick hard.

“I’ve already done MMA training. It’s good for preparing to fight a guy like Canelo who likes to put the pressure on.”

Going one step further, Khan even claimed that he fancied his chances of defeating UFC superstar and current featherweight champion Conor McGregor if they ever fought in the cage.

“I’ve always been a UFC fan and I like McGregor. But if I was to fight the champion around 147lbs I would fancy my chances. McGregor or whoever.

“I was at the last SFL show in Dubai, watching the guys in my weight closely. Even though I have no experience of MMA, I could have stepped in and done the business.”

Khan is not the first boxer to believe he could translate his boxing talents to the Octagon, with another UK fighter, former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye also having discussed the idea in the past, though he’s never followed up on it.

Others have put their money with their mouth is though, with former multi-division champion James Toney having been the first to try his luck in the UFC, getting soundly beaten by Randy Couture inside of a round, while former female boxing champ Holly Holm has had a more successful transition, defeating Ronda Rousey to briefly become the UFC’s bantamweight champion.

Khan is a tremendous boxer with lightning-quick hands and excellent movement, but without a solid ground game to back it up he would find the going tough at the highest level in the UFC – though it’d certainly be fun to watch him give it a go!

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.