On Saturday night at UFC 242, Khabib Nurmagomedov kept his undefeated record intact with a third-round submission win over Dustin Poirier. The win also marks his second successful title defense since winning the belt at UFC 223 in April 2018.
The win only solidifies Khabib’s status as the most dominant 155-pound fighter in the world today, and a notable name among the elites in MMA today. But for Tony Ferguson, it wasn’t a performance to give mad props to.
“Lazy. One-dimensional,” Ferguson said of Khabib’s UFC 242 performance on Monday’s episode of the Ariel Helwani MMA Show (transcript by BJPenn.com). “Nothing against him, both guys did an awesome fight week. I know there was a lot of nerves and stuff. Khabib showed up, he obviously won, put the pressure on Dustin and Dustin didn’t have an answer for it.
“Props to Khabib for winning but like I said, it’s lazy. We’ve prepared for this guy many times. He’s a good fighter but I know how to break that goat.”
Ferguson has been slated to fight Khabib multiple times, none of which ever pushed through. But when the opportunity comes, Ferguson says he is more than ready.
“Well, being my type of fighter, I throw a lot of barrage of punches, kicks, knees and elbows,” he said. “So when I see someone pushing against the cage and not really doing too much, being active and just kind of putting themselves as a wet blanket.
“In jiu-jitsu, we use that saying. He’s a wet blanket, just sitting there,” he explained. It’s a lot of pressure. It’s interesting how Khabib fights but to me, it’s just boring, it’s lazy.
“With him, I see a lot of holes in his game,” Ferguson continued. “But he’s got a high-level team with him and they know what they’re dealing with so they’re going to go to the drawing board and try to fix those holes.
“I think Dustin was in awe during fight week. Probably just a culture shock. It was probably a lot for both fighters. With that being said, in the next fight, you’re probably going to have one of the best Khabibs you’ve ever seen. So they’re going to fix a lot of holes in his game.”
According to UFC president Dana White, Ferguson will get the next shot Khabib. But should “El Cucuy” refuse, the opportunity goes to Conor McGregor, who already demanded for a rematch in Moscow, Russia.
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