Amir Khan would ‘get battered’ if he goes ahead with MMA bout with UFC star Conor McGregor, says Wayne McCullough
Bolton boxer claims he is 'not scared' of prospect, but former bantamweight ace insists he hasn't got the chin for it
BOXING legend Wayne McCullough has scoffed at Amir Khan’s claims he could fight UFC champion Conor McGregor with just six months of MMA training – insisting: McGregor would eat him up in 30 seconds.
As talk of a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and McGregor died away, Khan has called out the Dubliner under full MMA rules.
The Bolton fighter, 29 – who has been photographed posing at a UFC gym saying that ‘UFC training has started’ – recently stated he would just need a ‘full year’ to become a good MMA fighter before downgrading that on Friday night to just six months of training.
But former WBC Bantamweight king McCullough, who trains MMA fighters over in the States and worked for UFC for five years, reckons Khan is kidding himself.
When asked by Tom Latchem on talkSPORT Extra Time about Khan’s chances against McGregor under MMA rules, McCullogh said: “I just started laughing!
“Conor McGregor would eat him up in about 30 seconds and that would be it.
“I tell you what, with those small gloves on, you better have a good chin – and Amir Khan has not shown a good chin in boxing.
“No disrespect to Amir, but this is a different ball game.”
Talking up the chances of a fight with the UFC featherweight champion, 28, Khan said on Friday: “I think a Conor McGregor fight would be massive.
“It would be a full MMA fight as I’m not scared of him.
“But listen I would need six months to train MMA fully and I will spend every day in the cage until I am bang on.”
However, McCullough reckons Khan is dreaming if he thinks he can pick up the required skills to take on McGregor in anything like that time frame.
He said: “I studied jujitsu myself and I know how hard it is to become a complete UFC fighter, and I thought about it myself a couple of years ago.
“But I know how the game works, how to do certain submissions, and you can’t learn the game overnight.
“I have been watching it since 2004 – I’ve spent 12 years studying the game and still not perfected anything.
“It might take year to learn maybe a quarter of the jujitsu submissions! But there are about four or five different disciplines.”
The Irishman, 46, added: “I do give Khan credit saying he will go to fight Conor McGregor in UFC rules, as the others said they would do it under boxing rules.
“But if he fights McGregor under UFC rules he will get battered.”
Listen to the Tom Latchem’s full talkSPORT Extra Time interview with Wayne McCullogh on the .