UFC legend Tony Ferguson has offered his thoughts on Islam Makhachev’s impending move up to welterweight.
Throughout his long tenure in the UFC, which ended in a horrendous eight-fight losing streak, Tony Ferguson‘s biggest rivalry was with Khabib Nurmagomedov, despite them having never clashed in the cage.
The two lightweights were scheduled to fight each other an eye-watering five times but never managed to meet inside the cage due to several reasons.
Since Nurmagomedov’s shock retirement in 2020, he has turned his attention to becoming one of the best coaches in the sport and one of his students is none other than Islam Makhachev.
Tony Ferguson comments on Islam Makhachev’s impending move up to 170lbs
Makhachev was reigning over the lightweight division until recently when Dana White shockingly announced that the Russian had vacated his title in pursuit of a welterweight title fight against Jack Della Maddalena.
Because of Makhachev’s close ties to Khabib, he and the undefeated ‘Eagle’ constantly get compared to each other as they both have extremely similar skillsets.
It is widely agreed that Makhachev is the better striker of the two, however, Khabib is deemed to be the more dominant grappler.
Despite that, ‘El Cucuy’ has claimed that Makhachev is the better grappler out of him and Khabib, also offering his opinion on Makhachev’s impending move up to 170lbs.
“Makhachev (defended his title how many times)? That’s much more than (Khabib) and he made weight so when it goes into it and you have that, I think it’s a smart move (that he’s moving up). When you go up, you’re gonna try to build a legacy, you’re gonna do certain things like that,” he told Helen Yee.
“Someone was asking me who I think is a better wrestler out of Makhachev and Khabib. I think Makhachev is a better grappler, honestly. I think he’s faster, I think with Khabib he’s a little more timid of the freestyle that Makhachev presents but I think Makhachev isn’t gonna do so bad at 170lbs, he’s gonna be alright,” he continued.
Ferguson still willing to coach against Khabib Nurmagomedov on TUF
During their rivalry, Ferguson and Khabib were linked to potentially headlining The Ultimate Fighter against each other and Ferguson has even revealed that it was a signed deal.
Although it didn’t come to fruition, ‘El Cucuy’ has claimed that he would still be willing to coach against Nurmagomedov on the reality TV series, potentially finishing with a competition of some sort.
“I would definitely take the opportunity to coach against him. He’s a knucklehead, and he’s still fat. He wears that hat, and I’d love to clean the mats with it. I think it’d be an interesting draw,” Ferguson claimed.