Ferguson calls for Conor McGregor to ‘vacate belt now’ if pursuing boxing

UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson recently found himself without an opponent when lightweight #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced out of their scheduled interim lightweight title fight the day of weigh-ins.

This week, Ferguson appeared on UFC Tonight to discuss the lightweight title picture, as well as Conor McGregor, and a potential fight between McGregor & Mayweather:

“It doesn’t really matter [if it feels like a real title if McGregor vacates the belt] it depends on where where your heart is, where his heart is at. I want to fight somebody that wants to fight. I don’t want to fight somebody that is forced to fight, I want to fight a top contender, the best fighters that are out there in the world as far as lightweight contention. I put in my time, I put in my numbers, and this is where it’s at. If Conor wants to leave the belt and he wants to pursue some sort of victory in the boxing world, which I don’t think he is, the dude has a punchers chance. But, I mean **** vacate the belt right now, then drop it. Leave it where it’s at, and we’ll fight for the title belt in an actual fight week.”

Ferguson then moved on to calling out Nate Diaz for a lightweight showdown, explaining that he would like to go toe to toe with the Stockton superstar. At around the same time Ferguson was calling for a fight with Nate Diaz, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father was revealing in a separate interview that his son was healthy and looking to fight for the UFC lightweight title in August or September after Ramadan. Nurmagomedov’s father said that aside from a title fight, a fight with the Ferguson is the only move for his son.

on 4/1/2017.