Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson had one of the longest-standing feuds in UFC history after astonishingly being booked to fight each other five times.
A fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will go down as one of the biggest what-if stories in MMA history.
It took freak injuries, botched weight cuts, and a global pandemic to prevent the fans from seeing what at the time would’ve been one of the best matchups in MMA.
Tony Ferguson explains the real reason behind UFC 249 face-off against Khabib Nurmagomedov
UFC 223 in 2018 was the closest the two got to fighting each other but during media day the Wednesday before their fight, ‘El Cucuy’ tripped over a camera wire and subsequently tore his knee ligaments.
Fast forward two years and Ferguson was reigning as the interim lightweight champion in ‘The Eagle’s’ absence. The two were then booked in a title unification bout at UFC 249, where things began to once again get heated between the two lightweights.
To this day, fans still wonder what was said between the two when they faced off for what was the final time as they continued to exchange words with each other.
As the two squared up, ‘El Cucuy’ bizarrely placed his interim belt down and Nurmagomedov kicked it away, and Ferguson has now revealed the real reason why put his belt down.
“When we did the face-off, I put my belt on the ground, right, and he kicked it,” Ferguson began to explain on the Jaxxon Podcast.
“But that wasn’t the purpose of that (to annoy Khabib), but he doesn’t f*cking know, I was measuring him with my belt, and every single time I put my belt down, look, that’s how close I was to ankle picking him.
“And when I picked up my belt I went like this (bowed), and I was like, thank you for f*cking giving me your tells,” Ferguson revealed.
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Tony Ferguson reveals his favorite fighters of all time
Of course, the fight between them at UFC 249 never came to fruition after the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ferguson subsequently went on to lose his interim title against Justin Gaethje and his career spiraled downhill since then, and much to the fanbase’s dismay, he is still yet to announce his retirement.
Despite that, the 40-year-old will undoubtedly enter the UFC Hall of Fame when his career is all said and done and he will go down as many fans’ favorite fighter of all time.
With that, ‘El Cucuy’ has revealed who his favorite fighters of all time are, having taken motivation from all of them.
“Rampage (Jackson), sure. GSP (Georges St-Pierre) was on my target because I was 10-2 before I went into the UFC and he was the only one at 170lbs that was doing it right, so I always compared myself to this dude because I had to go and beat this guy in order to win the championship belt.
“As far as the other fighter that I look up to, (Kazushi) Sakuraba because he was one of the Gracie killer and he was a wrestler who could do and nothing against Gracies or anybody, he’d just go out there and smoke a cigarette and drink a shot and then go and do his sh*t,” Ferguson stated.