This weekend, superstar rapper 50 Cent made headlines by sending a $2 million offer to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The offer was supposedly an attempt to get ‘The Eagle’ to come over to Bellator MMA. The rap star recently signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with the promotion.
Interestingly enough, the exact amount 50 proffered is being withheld from him because he started the now-infamous post-fight brawl at UFC 229 last week. But 50 Cent was wrong in suggesting it was the UFC’s call to withhold his pay.
That decision was solely on the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). Apparently, 50 Cent doesn’t know that at all. Bellator MMA President Scott Coker revealed at the Bellator 208 post-fight press conference last night (via MMAjunkie) that his new business partner called him to ask about Khabib’s situation. So Coker told 50 Bellator had to stay out of that situation:
“He called me yesterday and he said, ‘Hey, what’s going on with this?’ I said, ‘Well, the commission’s involved. There’s a lot of steps to that whole situation.’
“I’d like to just – I told him, ‘Hey, let’s just stay clear of it because that has nothing to do with Bellator, it has to do with the commission and the fighter and the league.’ So that’s their business.”
50’s On His Own
Indeed Bellator has no control – or involvement – in the matter, so 50 Cent’s money won’t change things in that regard whatsoever. ‘The Eagle’ seems to be at least somewhat receptive to 50 Cent’s offer. It would seem that it would take a whole lot more than $2 million to persuade him to leave the UFC, however.
But Coker wanted to clarify that 50 Cent wasn’t speaking for Bellator in any sort of negotiations. What he says are his own words. Bearing that, Coker suggested the offer may have been in a managerial capacity rather than speaking for Bellator:
“I think what he means by that is like him as a manager,” Coker said. “50 Cent, when he’s talking to an athlete, that has nothing to do with Bellator. I can’t tell 50 Cent what to say or not say, believe me.”
As expected, Khabib won’t be coming to Bellator anytime soon, and especially not on 50’s accord. That doesn’t mean that everything is all good between the UFC and Nurmagomedov.
‘The Eagle’ recently made some harsh claims that the UFC set up the infamous bus attack involving Conor McGregor this spring. He’s also threatened to leave the UFC if they released his teammate Zubaira Tukhugov. The featherweight was pulled from his UFC Moncton fight against McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov for his part in the UFC 229 brawl.
Despite that discord, Coker made it clear 50 Cent didn’t make a serious offer to ‘The Eagle,’ at least not on Bellator’s behalf.
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