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“I called him out, called my shot and it worked. I’m in this dude’s head, he’s looking at me and he is going to be training so hard and be so nervous and he’s going to make a mistake.”
It’s a ways off, but Tony Ferguson feels he’s already in Khabib Nurmagomedov’s head ahead of their highly anticipated lightweight matchup at UFC 249, which will see ‘El Cucuy’ challenge ‘The Eagle’ for the official UFC lightweight title on April 18, 2020 at Barclays Center in New York.
Speaking to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani in a recent interview, former interim champ Ferguson vowed to make Khabib ‘piss blood’ and said he feels he makes the undefeated Dagestani ‘nervous’.
“I told everybody I’m going to make him piss blood. I said that a while ago,” Ferguson said (h/t Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania). “This guy has got an issue and his name is Tony Ferguson and I’m coming after him. It’s hunting season, baby.”
“He’s just another opponent. I already beat that dude. I showed up to UFC 209 and I saw it in his face, I saw quit. I called him out, called my shot and it worked. I’m in this dude’s head, he’s looking at me and he is going to be training so hard and be so nervous and he’s going to make a mistake. I am going to capitalize on that. I’m going to catch him during the scrambles. Scrambled eggs baby.”
Khabib vs. Ferguson has been cancelled four times in the past, with Ferguson pulling out of their last scheduled fight at UFC 223 after The Ultimate Fighter 13 winner tripped over a wire and injured his knee just days before the event.
Ferguson is on a twelve-fight win streak and hasn’t lost since 2012, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Michael Johnson at UFC on FOX 3. The MMA veteran last fought earlier this year at UFC 238, where he earned a TKO victory (doctor stoppage) over Donald Cerrone at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Khabib, 31, is undefeated at 28-0 and ranked #2 in the UFC’s official pound-for-pound rankings. The proud Dagestani last fought earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, where he successfully retained his lightweight title by submitting Dustin Poirier in the UFC 242 main event.