Current #1 ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov will be out for some time to get his health back up to par after being hospitalized and pulled from the UFC 209 interim lightweight title fight against Tony Ferguson. With Nurmagomedov out, “El Cucuy” is still looking to solidify himself as the top UFC lightweight as the champion of the division, Conor McGregor is concentrating on getting himself a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.

Earlier this month, Ferguson said on The MMA Hour that he was interested in a fight with Nate Diaz out of all the lightweight contenders and pushed on the matchup speaking on the 5ive Rounds podcast recently. Currently ranked #2 by the UFC in the lightweight division, “El Cucuy” said that he is actually doing Diaz a favor with trying to arrange the matchup as the Stockton scrapper is sitting further down the ranks at #8.

“Nate, you’re not the last option,” Ferguson said (transcribed by Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). If you don’t want to fight, go hide in a hole. But you’ve got to admit on Twitter that you don’t want to fight me. You’re f**king scared homie. All that s**t’s gotta go out the f**king window. ‘Don’t be scared homie.’ People are gonna start throwing that s**t away and it’s gonna be crazy.”

Ferguson added that if Nate wants to wait on the sidelines for a trilogy fight against Conor McGregor, the future plans of “The Notorious” certainly could change if he rakes in a massive payday in the world of professional boxing against Floyd Mayweather.

“You can wait for McNuggets but we all know if you wait for that fool, if he fights Mayweather and he doesn’t fight again, you might not get another chance for a big money fight besides this guy. So I’m giving you a shot. If you want it, it’s perfect. If you like it, sign on the dotted line.”

Would you like to see Tony Ferguson and Nate Diaz matched up for a scrap in the Octagon? Let’s get your thoughts on the matchup in the comment section!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/27/2017.