Two of the very best lightweights on the entire planet are once again scheduled to fight. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson are squaring off and everyone is getting PTSDéjà vu. Try and put whatever is going on with the lightweight title out of your mind and just celebrate that a fight like this is on the books for this year and right around the corner at UFC 223. It’s still a couple of months away but Ferguson is already fired up about it and promises epic violence and slicing elbows in the Octagon.

“They’ve wanted me to fight Khabib since the beginning man and I understand that. It’s just a bunch of hype and I try not to look too much into it and I let my fights do the talking, like I always have and I always continue. I think the most interesting point is that I think most people have forgotten that I can translate punches inside that Octagon. I don’t need a translator for that sh-t. I get hit for a certain reason. I want people to use their energy against me, but for b-tch Khabib, that b-tch is not going to touch me, not one time. I’m going to be dance circles around this kid. I will be hitting him with some nasty f-cking uppercuts and that’s going to make him think twice about shooting in on me. Then I’m going to hit him with some other things and cut him up.”

“Have you ever seen Khabib cut in a fight? I don’t think so. I’m Mexican and I got some sharp ass blades on my elbows. That b-tch better think twice about shoving that face in front of me, especially inside that cage. Gimme your f-cking face dude and I’ll hit you with my knee. I’m going to leave your bloody inside rounds one through three. Come after El Cucuy? F-ck you, dude. I’m going to mop it with that hat. I can’t stand that sh-t. F-cking Khabib is going down and I’m going to derail that hype train and the time is now. It’s TT time man, that’s ‘Tony Tiramisu Time’ so let’s go. I going to keep doing me and I’m going to keep punching people right in the f-cking gut. It will be nice to finish Khabib by liver shots wouldn’t it? I just want to see him wincing on the ground in pain where he belongs.”—Tony Ferguson speaking on The MMA Hour.

Cuts. Elbows. Liver shots. Blood. If Tony Ferguson is able to do half the things he promises against Khabib Nurmagomedov, it will be one very impressive performance. Nurmagomedov has looked unstoppable against every he has fought, but he has never fought Ferguson. You know what they say; third time’s a charm. That must mean the fourth time it’s a fight. We’ll be waiting in suspense until these two finally are locked into an Octagon with one another and they decide who really is the best.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/23/2018.