Demetrious Johnson Calls out Floyd Mayweather for UFC Fight

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UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has called out Floyd Mayweather Jr. and said he would even be willing to fight him with a handicap. 

He told TMZ Sports: "Floyd, come and beat up the smallest guy in the UFC, come try your hand."

Johnson also took to Twitter to reveal he'd be willing to move up two weight classes to face him:

Speaking to TMZ, he added it's up to his management team to secure the fight. He is fully confident he would come away with a win:

"I think it would go very well for me. Obviously it's mixed martial arts, but I could even do a handicap, I don't even need to grapple with him, I don't even need to go to ground at all.

"I'll get him in a clinch, bang up, hit him in the liver, kick him in the liver, kick at his legs."

He said he was "100 per cent" confident of coming out on top in a pure striking match as he believes he'd still have a variety of options: "Yeah of course, you have the clinch, there are kicks, there's elbows, it's mixed martial arts...my skill sets are well-rounded."

Johnson was asked what his approach to the bout would be and responded:

"I'll have to get at that liver, beat him up in a Muay Thai clinch. That's how I'd do, because he likes to clinch a lot. You see it even in his boxing when he clinches. Once we initiate that clinch, I'm gonna throw a knee right to that liver."

UFC featherweight Cub Swanson also threw his hat into the ring ahead of a potential MMA appearance for boxing legend Mayweather:

According to ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto, UFC President Dana White said they're in "real" talks over a UFC deal with Mayweather.

MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani gave his reaction:

However, the 40-year-old—who came out of retirement in August to extend his unbeaten record to 50-0 with a win over UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor—denied such talks to FightHype (h/t MMA Weekly).

If he did make the crossover it would prove to be a lucrative move for Money, and it's evident he'd have no shortage of opponents lining up to face him.

It would be difficult to see him standing a serious chance of winning, though, not only because of his advancing years but also because of the enormous skill gap he'd need to bridge, which would arguably be even greater than the one McGregor faced when he moved to boxing.