On March 4, in the co-main event of UFC 209, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the UFC interim lightweight title. The winner of this fight is then likely to challenge undisputed champion Conor McGregor sometime down the road.

According to Ferguson, however, the winner of his bout with Nurmagomedov should be considered the toughest man in the division, as he doesn’t believe McGregor is interesting in defending the title.

He explained this belief on the latest episode of Submission Radio:

“Either way, [Nurmagomedov and I are] the toughest sons of b**ches in the division right now, because money made McNugget soft and we all know that” he said. “That dude, he wants to call himself the ghost, but he’s gonna fade like a ghost cause he’s a f**king buster. Straight up, dude. That dude’s fake as f**k. So regardless of what he decides to do, it’s what myself or Khabib decide to do with the belt.”

“[McGregor], he’s trying to quit. He’s trying to look for excuses on his way out. He doesn’t want to f**king be in a man’s division. He might as well try to cut to 145 and lose that belt. Now he’s got a bulls**t and try to make excuses for the 155-pound belt. But when one of us has that belt – which is gonna be me – then he’s gonna a hard as f**k time trying to go on his way to victory. Because when you’re facing the boogeyman, you’re facing something kind of different. And both these guys don’t f**king get it. I don’t care who you have around you or who’s holding you back from throwing chairs and water bottles, when you’re locked inside that octagon with me, ain’t nothing gonna hold me back from getting you besides that referee. So I don’t care what belt he’s got. Straight up, I don’t care what belt is in my hands, that will be the real belt no matter what.”

Do you agree with Tony Ferguson’s statements on Conor McGregor? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/10/2017.