UFC lightweight #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov has been eagerly attempting to secure a fight for early 2017 before he takes a month off in observance of Ramadan. Unfortunately for ‘The Eagle’, while he was looking to secure an interim lightweight title fight with Tony Ferguson, Ferguson revealed several weeks ago that he planned to hold out for more money from the UFC.
While reports continued to surface tying Nurmagomedov to an interim lightweight title fight with various potential opponents, according to Nurmagomedov’s manager, ‘The Eagle’ is willing to fight anyone at 155 pounds.
Abdel-Aziz spoke to MMAJunkie:
“We want Ferguson,” Abdelaziz said. “He deserves it, but we can’t negotiate a deal for him. We even offered Ferguson money. Khabib was that generous, but it is what is.
“I hope they get a deal done. I want to see Khabib against Ferguson, but it’s up to them. As long as it’s for a piece of gold, we’ll face any 155-pounder on the planet. We want a ranked guy. Maybe Michael Chiesa would make sense. We’ll see.”
Following Abdel-Aziz’ interview, Nurmagomedov revealed via social media that he was actually training for an opponent who has not been announced yet.
Although Nurmagomedov’s manager stated that The Eagle had moved on from a fight with Ferguson, El Cucuy took to social media the same day to hint at an upcoming fight himself:
Time To Get Excited Y'all!!! #ElCuCuy is coming!!! #ElCucuyViene #TeamElCucuy #TonyFergusonMMA #SnapDownCity @paradigmsm #GP #Victoryon3 pic.twitter.com/sTcLnAA6To
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) January 7, 2017
Stay tuned for word from the UFC on what this potential matchup could be.