Nasukawa’s fight with Mayweather was met with a lot of criticism since the rules seemed to play solely to Mayweather’s strengths and prevented the young Japanese kickboxer from playing to his, as kicks were forbidden in the rules.
But this one is set to be different. The offer made by McGregor originally was that it would be a Mixed Martial Art fight, which would put both the fighters on a much more level playing field. McGregor has more than hinted that Nasukawa’s recent bout was unfair and that the legitimacy of it should be called into question. But with Mayweather waltzing off with $9 million, we are sure he isn’t losing too much sleep with the criticism. Even still, this week he signed a contract with Rizin and a rematch with the Japanese Kickboxer is on the books, this time with MMA rules. So it should be interesting to see how that plays out.
McGregor’s future in the UFC has yet to be decided, since he is still waiting to hear what his punishment will be for the UFC229 fiasco, so it makes perfect sense that he would be pushing his management to arrange some high-profile fights and setting up a bout with Mayweather’s most recent victim seems to be a good place to start.
The offer first went out by tweet on Monday morning:
“I wish to go to Tokyo to face Tenshin Nasukawa in a Mixed Martial Arts exhibition bout. Before this summer,”
I wish to go to Tokyo to face Tenshin Nasukawa in a Mixed Martial Arts exhibition bout.
Before this summer.
Please arrange this, this instant.
Yours sincerely
The champ champ. @ufc @ParadigmSM— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 7, 2019
“Please arrange this, this instant. Yours sincerely. The champ champ.”
The following tweet seemed like a direct dig at Mayweather, calling for the match to have no rules.
I’m the real Django no holds barred.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 7, 2019
Whether Dana White allows his biggest star to risk injury with another organization is yet to be discovered, unless UFC stands to make a massive amount of cash from the arrangement.
But the offer has been made, and in typical polite Japanese style, very unlike the typical aggressive, posturing responses we’ve come to expect in MMA, This was Nasukawa’s response:
“Dear Mr. McGregor, Thank you very much for remembering my name.
“I’m honoured that you would even consider fighting me.
“58kg, kickboxing rules would probably get us in the ring sometime in the near future.
“I will fight my RISE world GP this year so please watch your diet and wait for me.”
Dear Mr. McGregor. @TheNotoriousMMA
Thank you very much for remembering my name. I’m honored that you would even consider fighting me.58kg, kickboxing rules would probably get us in the ring sometime in the near future 👍 pic.twitter.com/BTgVVnwXLA
— 那須川 天心 (@TeppenTenshin) January 7, 2019
