Islam Makhachev reveals he wanted to step in for Khabib Nurmagomedov to fight Tony Ferguson

UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has revealed that he previously wanted to step in for Khabib Nurmagomedov and fight Tony Ferguson.

Right now, Islam Makhachev is easily one of the most impressive fighters in mixed martial arts. In fact, some would argue he’s the pound for pound best. This weekend, he’ll put that on the line – alongside his belt – when he defends against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC 311.

RELATED: UFC 311: Former champion can’t see Islam Makhachev losing to Arman Tsarukyan this Saturday

Back in the day, of course, Khabib Nurmagomedov was the main man. One of his biggest rivals was also someone he never got the chance to face: Tony Ferguson.

In a recent interview, Makhachev revealed that he wanted to compete against Ferguson on one of the occasions when the fight against Khabib fell through.

Islam Makhachev says he would have liked to compete against Tony Ferguson someday pic.twitter.com/GePi0tmPt3

— calfkicker (@calfkickercom) January 14, 2025

Makhachev wanted Ferguson fight

“My brother Khabib supposed to fight with Tony Ferguson like five times,” Makhachev said in an interview with Adin Ross. “They both had injuries, the fight was canceled five times, and my dream (was) to fight this guy that moment, because I always with Khabib. When Khabib have injury, I ask my manager, ‘Hey, can I step in to fight with Tony?’

“And, you know, Tony in that moment, he’s like very good athlete, very good fighter. He have almost, yeah, more than 10-fight win streak in UFC. And this is one of the fight which I want fight like three, four years ago, but not right now because he has eight-fight losing streak. Wish him the best, but a couple of years ago, he was one of the high-level fighters from our division.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

Would you have wanted to see that fight back then? Who do you believe would’ve picked up the win? Let us know, BJPENN Nation!