Having failed five separate times to face Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson has dished on how Conor McGregor cost him a further chance of facing the Russian.
Making his return to competition this weekend, former interim champion Tony Ferguson will fight in the co-main event of Mistfits Boxing 22, taking on YouTuber Salt Papi in a boxing showdown.
Departing the UFC earlier this year, having suffered a promotional-worst eight-fight losing skid, Ferguson had previously set a record at lightweight for the most consecutive wins — turning in a sensational 12 straight victories.
And during his record run, Ferguson was set to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov on five separate occasions, ultimately failing to ever fight the Russian star amid their tense rivalry.
But in a stark admission, Ferguson reveals he was almost set to coach The Ultimate Fighter against Nurmagomedov, until historic rival Conor McGregor ruined that plan.
Tony Ferguson reveals Conor McGregor nixed TUF battle with Khabib Nurmagomedov
Hitting the headlines earlier this week, Oxnard veteran Ferguson once more stirred the proverbial pot on his lengthy rivalry with Dagestan star Nurmagomedov.
Namely, the former interim lightweight titleholder claimed Nurmagomedov and McGregor were quite “lucky” their management team prevented them from ever facing him during his prime in the division.
And now, the fan-favorite has claimed he and Nurmagomedov were on a collision course for The Ultimate Fighter 31 back in 2023, until McGregor booked his place on the show instead of them.
“I was trying to get Khabib (Nurmagomedov),” Ferguson told MMA Fighting. “I said to my wife, we’re going to take these fights, and what we’re going to do is put some film out there so that way, Khabib takes the bait.
“He’s going to want to take the bait. That was when Conor McNuggets (McGregor) and (Michael) Chandler ended up coaching against each other.
“Because I put that feeler out there for me and Khabib to go and coach on The Ultimate Fighter. We had signed agreements with the UFC, we had signed with Ali (Abdelaziz) and everybody else, and that was the time he didn’t go and corner his cousin.
“So he had a lot of extra s— that was going on. Other than that, the interest has never been there.”
Tony Ferguson claims Conor McGregor was ‘scared’ to fight him
Similarly, Ferguson was long linked to a showdown with former dual-weight champion McGregor, particularly off the back of his interim title fight win in 2017.
Failing to ever set foot in the Octagon against the Dubliner, Ferguson boldly claimed he had serious intel on the training camp of the veteran, so much so that he and his “team” were scared of fighting him in the UFC.
“I got paperwork on paperwork on how these guys were training, what they were doing and at that time why they were doing it,” Ferguson told Dublin Live. “And it scared the f— out of them. They wanted nothing to do with me.”