Top ranked UFC lightweights Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson have fought the best of the best in the UFC’s lightweight division, but have never fought one another.
When the pair were set to square off earlier this year in Nurmagomedov’s highly anticipated Octagon debut, Ferguson was forced out of the fight with an injury, and was replaced by Darrell Horcher on short notice. Nurmagomedov won the fight in dominant fashion, earning himself a second round TKO win. Following that, Ferguson returned from his injury and picked up a unanimous decision win over former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos to cement his place at the top of the UFC’s lightweight division. Most recently, Nurmagomedov picked up a dominant submission win over Michael Johnson at UFC 205, to cement his place as the lightweight #1 contender.
Now, with the two men trading shots on Twitter in the midst of contract negotiations to fight, Ferguson has sent shots at ‘The Eagle’ through an interview with Fox Sports:
“I’ll take his 24-0 record — it’s (expletive) padded dude,” Ferguson told FOX Sports. “Look at some of the legit fights he’s had and then look at mine. I’ll take my record over his any day. His record is so padded. He’s a paper champ. Get out of here.
“He says that belt is his?” Ferguson continued. “Get out of here. That (expletive) is up for grabs. Unless they take that away from Conor (McGregor) so he better get his (expletive) together.”
“For Khabib, you need a guy like me to fight and beat him,” Ferguson explained. “You need to put the pressure on, check his conditioning, put his neck in choking territory and really seriously put his heart into contention. See how bad he really wants that fight and wants that win.
“Khabib doesn’t have hands,” Ferguson continued. “I’m going to out-box this dude. I’m going to be too slick for him, he’s flat footed. I’m going to take this dude apart.”
advertisement – continue reading below
