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Ahead of his interim Lightweight title fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 on Sat. (May 9) in Jacksonville, Fla., Tony Ferguson doesn’t want to hear any talk about Khabib Nurmagomedov. And while we’re at it, “El Cucuy” doesn’t want to hear anything about Conor McGregor, either.
That was made pretty clear by Ferguson to the media during a recent conference call to promote UFC 249, which according to Tony, will be headlined by an official Lightweight championship fight.
“Fuck Khabib, I’m defending my belt for the third time. This is for the real belt, not an interim title. This is for the real championship,” said an animated Ferguson. “I told Khabib he needs to step down and walk away. Khabib is a bitch.
“Him and McNuggets, they both need to fucking retire. The only two real men out there are me and Justin Gaethje. America motherfuckers!”
Of course, Khabib and Ferguson were supposed to fight at UFC 249 on April 18, but after the COVID-19 pandemic started forcing lockdowns all over the world, “The Eagle” was left stranded in Russia, forcing the cancellation of the bout for the fifth time.
When pressed on the matter of possibly having to face Khabib later this year should he win on Saturday, Ferguson simply said he didn’t have time to worry about a man who doesn’t exist at the moment.
“I’m going to be real, Khabib doesn’t even fucking exist to me right now. That dude fell off the face of the earth to me. Him and McNuggets. Those dudes are a bunch of fucking bitches. The only dudes who sign on the dotted line are real fucking men.”
In the past, Ferguson tried his best to lobby for a big fight against McGregor, but since the heat from his verbal venom didn’t produce a fire, “El Cucuy” cooled off on the idea. Still, booking a fight against Nurmagomedov for the sixth is highly-possible as long as Gaethje doesn’t add Ferguson to his already-impressive “Highlight” reel in Jacksonville.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 249 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+/Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+/ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
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