Tony Ferguson plans to be the first fighter to inflict serious physical damage on Khabib Nurmagomedov.
UFC lightweight standout Khabib Nurmagomedov has yet to face an opponent who was able to be dominant enough to inflict damage on him. His upcoming opponent Tony Ferguson, however, is looking to change that.
During Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, “El Cucuy” disparaged Khabib’s striking skills, while promising to dish out major damage himself.
“I get hit for a certain reason, I want people to use their energy against me,” Ferguson said (via MMA Fighting). “But for Khabib, that b-tch is not going to touch me. Not one time. I’m going to dance circles around this kid. I’m going to be hitting him with some nasty f—-ng uppercuts that are going to make him think twice about shooting in on me.”
“Have you ever seen Khabib cut in a fight? I don’t think so,” he continued. “I’m Mexican and I’ve got some f—ing sharp ass blades on my elbows, so that b-tch better think twice about f—ong showing his face in front of me, especially inside that cage. Get in my face, dude, I’ll hit you with my knee. I’m going to leave you f—ing bloody.”
Ferguson is drawing his confidence from the few times he had already prepared for Khabib, only for their fights to be scrapped for various reasons. He also went on to compare his performance against Gleison Tibau, whom Khabib fought to a decision verdict in 2012.
“You’ve got to remember, I’ve prepared for this gentleman four times in a row. This is going to be the fourth time,” Ferguson said. “So I’m not that impressed with him. I wasn’t the first time I set eyes on his footage. I’m a wrestler and he has the hardest time beating wrestlers. Look at the hard time that he had beating Gleison Tibau, who just performed this weekend and just got knocked out.”
“I finished Tibau in the first round via submission,” he added. “Khabib had to go all the rounds and he couldn’t take [Tibau] down. Now this might’ve been pre-USADA or whatever, but I’m talking techniques, man. He looked f—iing sloppy. And he looked so beat that he lost that fight, and that is the one fight that he lost in the UFC.”
“So all you fans, go back and watch Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Gleison Tibau and watch Tony Ferguson vs. Gleison Tibau, and you tell me the f—ing difference, who the champ is.”
Ferguson and Khabib will headline UFC 223 on April 7th in Brooklyn, New York.