Dana White has admitted he will be forced to agree to a crossover bout between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou if there is a "swell" of interest from fans.
Ngannou is currently at a contract stand-off with the UFC and will demand a clause which allows him to pursue boxing exploits alongside his cage career.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury offered Ngannou a crossover bout on social media as the pair continue to exchange over a potential showdown.
White has admitted he could cave in to Ngannou's demands if the fight builds up in to an event the size of Conor McGregor's bout with Floyd Mayweather.
"It's a tough one," White told Manouk Akopyan. "Obviously when there is this underground swell from the fans and from the media and the event builds up into something like Mayweather vs McGregor was, you saw how that worked out I ended up doing it.
"But I haven't seen anything that big and that crazy since. I'm doing fights every Saturday man, on Saturday I have the best heavyweight in the world against the second best heavyweight in the world.
"Also on the card I have the best flyweight in the world against the second best flyweight in the world and I have a tonne of up and coming talent. That is what the UFC does and what I do.
"If there is a fight that could be made with some of this other stuff that is that big that my fans really want to see it, I usually do it."
White previously helped promote the bumper crossover event between McGregor and Mayweather that s old over four million pay-per-views and generated a total revenue of over $600 million.
It is extremely unlikely that any event between Ngannou and Fury would reach anywhere near that level of demand but it has certainly been a talking point for fans in recent days.
The Cameroon star is keen to make the fight happen and r esponded to Fury's initial offer by altering the fight to cater for MMA rules.
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However Ngannou has conceded it is unlikely the fight will take place before 2023 with both men continuing their commitments in their separate heavyweight ventures.
Ngannou will defend his heavyweight title against Cyril Gane this weekend and Fury will look to have a three-fight year in boxing starting with a defence against Dillian Whyte after negotiations are complete.
The 35-year-old is confident that he can secure a fight with Fury but is not expecting any movement on talks this year.
“Me and Tyson Fury may fight in 2023. It will be challenging, but I will throw some bombs at him that he will not have experienced before," Ngannou told Stake.
“I don’t know exactly when Tyson and I will fight. But I think maybe sometime in 2023. I am still under contract with UFC, so I don’t know right now the state of my situation or how it will play out.
“But I will say it will probably happen at some point. I definitely want to do it, but we don’t have control over it right now."
