Hip hop star 50 Cent is trying to woo Khabib Nurmagomedov with $2 million to switch from the UFC to rival promotion Bellator MMA. The lightweight champ may consider the offer as the UFC is threatening to sanction his teammates.
“I think it’s wrong what the UFC is doing to Khabib,” 50 Cent, who recently partnered with Bellator – the second biggest MMA promotion – tweeted on Friday.
The ‘Candy Shop’ rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, added that Khabib’s teammate and close friend Zuybara Tukhugov is also “welcome” to join Bellator. He has praised Nurmagomedov’s fighting style in the past and never minced words in ridiculing some of his opponents.
It didn’t take Khabib long to respond. “Just send me location,” he wrote in a comment shortly afterwards, hinting that the two might meet once the fighter returns to the US.
The fighter also thanked 50 Cent for his support and invited him to pay a visit to his homeland in Russia’s Dagestan.
While the Bellator deal is not likely to be something Nurmagomedov will seriously consider, it could be used as a backup plan given his current relationship with the UFC.
On Thursday, the lightweight champion warned the world’s leading MMA promotion that he could severe ties with them in light of possible sanctions to his teammate Tukhugov for his involvement in a mass brawl following Khabib’s thrashing of Conor McGregor last week.
“If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I'll break it myself,” Nurmagomedov wrote in a message to the UFC.
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