Khabib Nurmagomedov wants to fight Tony Ferguson. He wants a chance to ‘smash his face’ so bad, he doesn’t even want a fight with Conor McGregor yet. It’s easy to see why he feels the need to take care of unfinished business — they’ve been slated to fight each other as far back as 2015 — but now he may have even more reason to hold a grudge. Allegedly, Nurmagomedov and Ferguson were offered a contract to fight at UFC 219. Nurmagomedov says he signed, but Ferguson never did. Shortly after the news, Daniel Cormier had some choice words for the UFC lightweight champ in support of his AKA teammate.
“So, I walk into the gym today and Khabib Nurmagomedov walks up and says the UFC is wanting to make me versus Tony Ferguson for December 30th [UFC 219]. They wanna make the card bigger for end of the year. Then he tells me that Tony is saying no to the fight. Come on Tony, that ain’t gangsta bruh. Take the fight man! And by the way UFC says Tony won’t ever fight Conor [McGregor] so that’s not an option. The fans really want it. Come on My friend, hit him with that low single u always talk about.” – Daniel Cormier on his official Instagram.
Not only does Daniel Cormier try to convince Tony Ferguson to accept the fight, he goes on to drop a nuggets of inside info: Supposedly, the UFC still aren’t happy with the UFC 219 card as it stands and a shot at Conor McGregor is off the table for Ferguson. As of right now, this is all talk from second-hand sources, but Nurmagomedov clearly has the light heavyweight champion in his corner gunning for the big match-up. Although, if this happens, it may be the first time an interim title is defended.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 11/22/2017.