Petr Yan issues open challenge to Conor McGregor but is confident the Irishman 'won't show up'; McGregor responds with invite of his own

Conor McGregor, Petr Yan, and Max Holloway are fighters who are considered to be the best boxers in the UFC. To nobody's surprise, the Irishman claimed he is MMA's top pugilist, but Yan believes there's only one way to find out.

The UFC interim bantamweight champion issued a challenge to McGregor to settle the debate once and for all. Yan's willing to fight McGregor in the octagon or the boxing ring in any weight class. On Twitter, the Russian fighter wrote:

"Conor, we all know that you like to talk, but let’s get straight to the point if you really want to box or to fight, I don’t care about the weight or the ruleset. I bet you won’t show up"

The development came after McGregor tweeted an image of a list containing some of the best boxers in the UFC. 'The Notorious', who was slotted in third place, was clearly unhappy with how he's ranked. For that reason, the Irishman argued why he should be considered the absolute best.

"I outboxed 3 guys on this list! There’s no one even remotely close to my boxing in the ufc. Even Dustin only got shots off post the leg damage. Everyone has been pucked around by me if we are going off boxing. Yan is good tho, i like his style. I’d rip him up in that shell tho," McGregor stated.

Not one to be outdone or be on the receiving end of the last word, Conor McGregor replied to Petr Yan's invite with one of his own. The Irishman offered to host Yan and his team in Ireland for a sparring session at Crumlin Boxing Club. The tweet read:

"@PetrYanUFC Lol, no prob littler. We will set up a spar or something similar in the near future. Will host you and your team in Ireland for one of our shows at Crumlin boxing club. We will figure it out then, kid. God bless ya. @ParimatchGlobal, get this set."

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Petr Yan was unimpressed with Conor McGregor's previous performance

A potential fight between Conor McGregor and Petr Yan is unlikely to occur as two weight divisions separate the stars. However, this didn't stop the Russian from taking aim at McGregor, who suffered back-to-back losses against Dustin Poirier this year.

Petr Yan called McGregor "fat and old" when the Irishman fell to a second-round TKO defeat to Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257. McGregor suffered yet another defeat against Poirier when he injured his leg in the main event of UFC 264.

Meanwhile, Petr Yan is fresh off a championship-winning performance against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267. He is expected to meet Aljamain Sterling in a unification bout sometime in 2022.