Back in early March, streaking lightweight contender Tony Ferguson was expected to battle Khabib Nurmagomedov\u00a0for interim lightweight gold. Unfortunately, Nurmagomedov was forced out of this fight just hours out from the scheduled time of battle.<\/p>\n
When Nurmagomedov withdrew from the fight, and Ferguson was left without an opponent, an opportunistic Michael Johnson stepped up and offered to fight Ferguson on just hours notice, giving him the opportunity to avenge a 2012 loss. For Ferguson, however, this was not the right choice. The top-ranked lightweight elected not to risk his contendership status in a last minute battle with an opponent that could not be more different from the one he had been training for, and was subsequently removed from the card.<\/p>\n
While this might seem\u00a0like a fairly reasonable choice on Ferguson’s part, it generated some backlash from other members of the MMA community \u2013 including Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n The latest member of the MMA community to speak against Ferguson’s choice not to accept this short notice fight, however, is the head coach of undisputed lightweight champion and MMA megastar Conor McGregor<\/a>, John Kavanagh.<\/p>\n Kavanagh questioned Ferguson’s\u00a0cojones\u00a0<\/em>on Twitter.<\/p>\n if a late notice change of opponent puts you off then MMA will be a difficult sport for you considering how common it is. Tennis perhaps?<\/p>\n \u2014 Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) May 30, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n