Islam Makhachev wants Tony Ferguson next.
Makhachev enjoyed a dominant third-round submission win over Drew Dober on the main card of the UFC 259 pay-per-view event on Saturday night.
It put him on a seven-fight winning streak as there is no doubt that he deserves a top lightweight contender for his next outing. The Dagestan native went a step further by earmarking one fighter in particular — Ferguson.
“My dream fight is Tony Ferguson,” Makhachev said after his win. “That’s my dream fight. I just want to make him retire. He talks too much.
“Khabib is retired, now he keeps pressuring him, for what? I’m here, I have a 7-fight win streak, make this happen.”
Ferguson, of course, is on a two-fight losing streak but was previously on a 12-fight winning streak and was slated to fight Nurmagomedov in a dream contest five times only for it to fail to come to fruition all five times.
Perhaps the next best option is to have him face who many believe to be the successor to the now-retired Nurmagomedov in Makhachev.
UFC president Dana White is seemingly a fan of the idea as well.
Do you want to see Ferguson vs. Makhachev next?