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“I feel like if anyone is going to beat him, it’s going to be Ferguson. And if not, we’re going to have to wait until I come up.”
Tony Ferguson might be the underdog, but many fighters are giving the UFC veteran a legitimate chance at beating undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in their all but confirmed title bout in early 2020.
The latest fighter to credit Ferguson is top-five UFC featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who believes Ferguson’s jiu jitsu could pose all kind of problems for the top-heavy Nurmagomedov, who is considered one, if not the, greatest wrestlers in the UFC.
With that said, if Ferguson isn’t up to task, ‘T-City’ feels he is more than capable of getting the job done himself, as the 28-year-old believes he has the perfect style to shut down Khabib’s offense.
“They’re high, man,” Ortega told John Hyon Ko in a recent interview of Ferguson’s chances of beating Nurmagomedov (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA). “It’s going to happen. Tony’s an amazing athlete, he’s a great jiujitsu guard player as well.
“But when I see things, there’s just certain positions that I feel like I’m better at than certain people. And vice-versa they’re better than me in other positions. But the positions that Khabib is amazing at, I’m equally as amazing at from the bottom of the coin. I feel like if anyone is going to beat him, it’s going to be Ferguson. And if not, we’re going to have to wait until I come up.”
Before there’s any talk of moving up in weight to challenge Khabib, however, Ortega must first get past ‘Korean Zombie’ and then win the UFC featherweight title. Only then will the Californian be considered worthy of challenging ‘The Eagle’.
“I mean, that’s what it is,” Ortega added. “I feel like anyone who I wrap up is in danger. And the level of danger is extreme. I’ve been doing this for over 15 years and I’ve been going with the top-level grapplers in the entire world and finishing them and catching them. So this is something that is in the future for sure.
“Hopefully, Khabib doesn’t retire. Give me some time to go in there and let me do what I have to do to prove myself the way he proved himself. Let me become a champ and then I feel like I’ll have the right to really call him out and have it be a lot more serious than saying his name in interviews.”
UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. Korean Zombie takes place later this year, Dec. 21 at Sajik Arena in Busan, South Korea.