Tony Ferguson: Khabib and I deserve to fight, we need to try this for the fifth time

Shortly after the UFC 229 main event ended, Conor McGregor issued a brief statement and called for a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov. He wasn’t…

By: Anton Tabuena | 5 years ago
Tony Ferguson: Khabib and I deserve to fight, we need to try this for the fifth time
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Shortly after the UFC 229 main event ended, Conor McGregor issued a brief statement and called for a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov. He wasn’t the only one who made his case that night though, with former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson saying he and Khabib “deserve” to fight each other.

He took to the post-fight press conference and spoke about the title picture in typical “El Cucuy” fashion.

“I’m the f—king champ, you guys realize that right? I’ve been the champ. I am the champ. You have those two knuckleheads over there making this sport look bad,” he said. “So when I had that media scrum over there and I yelled at all you guys, don’t be feeding that bullshit, straight up. I am the champ. I don’t have a belt up here. I don’t need to have a belt up here to be the champ, so if you guys want to feed that go ahead, put that in your pocket and take it with you.

“Khabib and I deserve to fight, we need to fight for the fifth time. We need to try this out again. Me as the champ. I was the interim champ. I’m still the fucking champ. There’s no BS in this,” Ferguson continued. “Conor does not want to fight me. I saw him when we were walking out the weigh ins. He walked up he did his strut and I turned around and he fucking stopped. He looked like a deer in the headlights. Nobody wants to be trapped inside that cage me. They don’t want to be cut by my elbows, they don’t want to get hit by any of my kicks and they don’t want their conditioning checked by me. I’m a different animal than these guys. They want to be animals inside there, I’m a dogcatcher guys. Alright? I got a noose for them.”

Ferguson beat Anthony Pettis in a Fight of the Night winning contest at UFC 229, which extended his winning streak to 11 bouts. He is 14-1 in the UFC, and 24-3 overall, with his last defeat happening back in 2012.

Khabib and Ferguson have been booked to fight four times already. They’ve tried setting that bout up each year from 2015 to 2018, with each falling out and being cancelled.

Maybe fifth time’s the charm for these two lightweights?

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Anton Tabuena
Anton Tabuena

Anton Tabuena is the Managing Editor for Bloody Elbow. He’s been covering MMA and combat sports since 2009, and has also fought in MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing.

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