Tony Ferguson News

Justin Golightly - January 24, 2018

Once again, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov are booked in the single best lightweight fight that is available in MMA at this point. At UFC 223, whether it be for the interim or the undisputed title, this clash is going to be insane. It’s crushing, combat Sambo up against unorthodox striking and 10th Planet jiu jitsu. It’s a match-up that fascinated a lot of people, including Joe Rogan and Ben Askren. Former ONE FC and Bellator welterweight champion Askren recently weighed-in on the epic fight and one of MMA’s best wrestlers ended up backing the Russian smashing machine. “[Khabib Nurmagoemdov] was a like a frickin’ Terminator though [in the fight at UFC 219]. He was chasing [Edson Barboza]. It was insane. He’s fantastic. […] I think he beats up Tony [Ferguson]. That’s just my opinion. I’ve underestimated Tony before so I could be wrong again, I just think — again, trump card. I think Tony’s one of those guys who is pretty good everywhere: Pretty damn solid wrestling, high level jiu jitsu, but I see Khabib’s wrestling being better than Tony’s wrestling.”

Justin Golightly - January 23, 2018

Two of the very best lightweights on the entire planet are once again scheduled to fight. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson are squaring off and everyone is getting PTSDéjà vu. Try and put whatever is going on with the lightweight title out of your mind and just celebrate that a fight like this is on the books for this year and right around the corner at UFC 223. It’s still a couple of months away but Ferguson is already fired up about it and promises epic violence and slicing elbows in the Octagon. “They’ve wanted me to fight Khabib since the beginning man and I understand that. It’s just a bunch of hype and I try not to look too much into it and I let my fights do the talking, like I always have and I always continue. I think the most interesting point is that I think most people have forgotten that I can translate punches inside that Octagon. I don’t need a translator for that sh-t. I get hit for a certain reason. I want people to use their energy against me, but for b-tch Khabib, that b-tch is not going to touch me, not one time. I’m going to be dance circles around this kid. I will be hitting him with some nasty f-cking uppercuts and that’s going to make him think twice about shooting in on me. Then I’m going to hit him with some other things and cut him up.”

Tom Taylor - January 23, 2018

On April 7, at UFC 223, UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will take on Khabib Nurmagomedov in a lightweight title fight. That said, Ferguson doesn’t know whether he’ll be defending his interim title, or fighting for the undisputed title, which would first have to be stripped from Conor McGregor. UFC President Dana White has been incredibly vague and unclear when asked about this situation, and it’s starting to get to Ferguson. “Yeah, it bothers me. It bothers the sh*t out of me, dude,” A fired up Ferguson admitted Monday on The MMA Hour (h/t MMAFighting.com). “Straight up. I’m the f*cking champ and we don’t know if we’re fighting for the real belt or not. What the f*ck is that? Dana White is telling us one thing on one [side] of the curtain and on the other side he’s saying, ‘No, Conor McGregor is the champion. Go and do your homework.’ And I love Dana, man, but I’m like, ‘What the f*ck, dude? Am I not the champ or am I the champ? Do you want to hype me up or do you not want to hype me up for this fight?’”

Tom Taylor - January 22, 2018

On April 7, interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for a lightweight title. Will it be the interim title currently owned by Ferguson, or the undisputed title currently owned by Conor McGregor? Dana White was incredibly unclear when asked about this at a press conference in Boston, refusing to say whether the UFC will strip McGregor of his undisputed title, but also assuring the winner of this Ferguson-Nurmagomedov fight will be the champion… Whatever the case, Khabib Nurmagomedov has some interesting ideas if he wins. For one, the undefeated grappler seems to be considering denying Conor McGregor a shot at the title upon his long-awaited return to MMA.

Justin Golightly - January 19, 2018

It’s official. It was reported, we confirmed it, Dana White backed the report up and later today there is a press conference on it. Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will try to fight once again. The word is it won’t be for an interim title, but for the undisputed title, which may be confirmed today as well. Either way, Conor McGregor and his coach believe that doesn’t matter, and the Irishman’s shadow will loom over the division until someone actually beats him. As far as the match-up, coach John Kavanagh dissected it in detail and believes Nurmagomedov will come out on top. “[Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov are both] grapplers for a start. Neither really has high level striking, so it’s going to be a grappling match. I think a lot of it will be played with Khabib on top, and I think he wins a decision. I think it goes the five rounds, I think it’s a decision to Khabib. I do think there is a really high risk of it not happening. It’s been scheduled twice and it has not happened twice. It’s very impressive what Khabib can do when he is fighting, just that pace he has and the relentless pressure, but it does require you to train in a certain way that brings on injuries. There is a reason why he is averaging one fight or less over the last couple of years because of multiple surgeries and so on. He’s got a lot of miles on the athletic clock. I would almost see as there being a high likelihood of one pulling out before the fight happens.”

Justin Golightly - January 18, 2018

The entire week we’ve been tracking the news of what will decide the fate of the UFC lightweight title. Khabib Nurmagomedov is slated to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, supposedly for the undisputed belt. This is news to Conor McGregor and his camp, but despite the possibility of it happening, they don’t seem to be too phased by the idea at all. In a recent Facebook Live session, Straight Blast Gym coach John Kavanagh said it doesn’t matter who wins or what belt is on the line, McGregor is still the Champ Champ. “I’m hearing this [fight news] at the same time as everyone else. I see there is a press conference that will happen tomorrow. I think Tony [Ferguson] and Khabib [Nurmagomedov], or else just Khabib, is being interviewed about the fight that Dana [White] announced in April, which was news to me as well. Maybe they’re going to say it at that. Is it an interim title fight or is it a belt fight? I don’t know.”

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

On April 7, in what is likely to be the main event of UFC 223, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the lightweight title. Veteran MMA oddsmakers Joey Oddessa has now released the opening odds for this fight, identifying Nurmagomedov as a -200 favorite, and Ferguson as a +165 underdog. This means that a successful $100 bet on Ferguson would earn you $165, while it would take a successful $200 bet on Nurmagomedov to make $100.  pic.twitter.com/zmJGP7UfjS

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

Yesterday a ton of reports flooded the net like a tsunami. News broke that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson wouldn’t just be fighting each other, but that it’d be for the undisputed title after Conor McGregor is stripped. We at BJ Penn followed up with sources close to Tony Ferguson and was able to confirm the news that it was a done deal. Some reports seem to counter the news, but it looks like we were on the right track. Dana White himself just made the news official today: It’s on! Dana White on our show confirmed that Khabib vs. Ferguson is indeed on for UFC 223 in Brooklyn. #UFC

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2018

Over the last few weeks, we’ve all been wondering what is going to happen at the top of the UFC lightweight division. Will undisputed champion Conor McGregor return? If he does, will he defend his title against interim champion Tony Ferguson or streaking contender Khabib Nurmagomedov? If he doesn’t, will we get Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov? And when, pray tell, will the UFC strip McGregor for inactivity? Indeed, the questions go on and on… According a report from Tass.Ru, we’ll have answers to all our questions soon.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

With UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor currently on the sidelines counting his millions, the immediate future of interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has recently been shrouded in mystery. The main uncertainty has been whether Ferguson will end up battling McGregor in a lightweight title unification bout, or defending his interim title against undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov. Whatever the case, it seems Tony Ferguson in the cusp of having a fight booked. On Saturday afternoon, the interim champ took to Twitter with a message that seemed to imply there’s major fight news on the horizon.

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

As chaotic as the MMA world is right now, the UFC’s lightweight division is still ridiculous. Eddie Alvarez jsut got off an extremely violent win over Justin Gaethje and is waiting for a huge fight. Khabib Nurmagomedov is back and on warpath. Tony Ferguson is the interim lightweight belt holder and still recovering from elbow surgery. Meanwhile, the undisputed champion Conor McGregor is still counting his money and waiting on the right time to show back up. With his future up in the air, Joe Rogan thinks the UFC will strip him make big fights in his absence. “Here’s my prediction: My prediction is Conor [McGregor] doesn’t fight for a while. They strip Conor. Tony [Ferguson] and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] fight for the [undisputed UFC lightweight] world title. […] What I believe is gonna happen is, Conor’s gonna vacate. I think they’re going to strip him.”

Tom Taylor - January 7, 2018

Ever since he won the UFC interim lightweight title with a submission of Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson has been vocal in his belief that undisputed lightweight champ Conor McGregor should either defend his title, or vacate it. Really, the interim champ rarely goes more than a few hours without using his patented #DefendOrVacate hashtag on Twitter “All Clear & Ready To Rock” Doc Cleared Me To Start Training & Sparring 💎💎💎 Fuck Yeah 2018 #DefefdorVacate #AndTheNew #TonyFergusonMMA SnapJitsu™ My Mat. #Back2Work – Thee Champ 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/Rbz7mRkgWS

Justin Golightly - January 4, 2018

It looks like Khabib Nurmagomedov’s convincing and violent marketing campaign has paid off. He was talking to Dana White in between dominating Edson Barboza at UFC 219, even waiting on him at his car to speak with him in the parking lot. Everything with Conor McGregor is still up in the air, so the UFC is now moving on with or without him. The plan right now is for Nurmagomedov to finally fight Tony Ferguson. It will depend on McGregor if that fight is for the interim or the undisputed UFC lightweight title. “As long as Conor [McGregor] is willing to fight by March, we could do Khabib [Nurmagomedov] versus Tony [Ferguson]. We could do Khabib versus Tony and then the winner fights Conor for the title. Or, Conor doesn’t want to fight and wants to sit out until next fall, then we would have to make Khabib vs. Tony for the title – not the interim title.”

Russell Sai - January 3, 2018

Khabib Nurmagomedov dazzled a lot of people with his performance over Edson Barboza at UFC 219. Although a few people including Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson were not so impressed by Nurmagomedov’s performance, UFC commentator Joe Rogan was blown away and has talked about a matchup between McGregor and Nurmagomedov as that is undeniably a very intriguing matchup in the UFC lightweight division. Ferguson tweeted after UFC 219, “Yo @joerogan Last Time I Checked I Was The Fuckin Champ… U Trading The 10P Gear For A Hat?”

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 219, Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up yet another dominant win, violating the dangerous Edson Barboza for three, brutal rounds, and ultimately capturing a clear unanimous decision. With this win, Nurmagomedov is now an unbelievable 25-0 overall. More importantly, he is the clear-cut, undeniable number-one-contender at lightweight, whether we’re discussing challengers for Conor McGregor‘s undisputed lightweight title or Tony Ferguson’s interim lightweight title. In fact, the three lightweight stars would now seem to have one of the most gripping three-way rivalries in the history of MMA. To commemorate this awesome lightweight rivalry, acclaimed graphic artist BossLogic has created an epic poster that pays tribute to all three fighters. See it below:

Tom Taylor - December 27, 2017

There is quite a bit of mystery surrounding the next fight of UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. In the opinion of lightweight contender Kevin Lee, however, McGregor will probably return to the Octagon to battle interim champion Tony Ferguson in the new year. “I think he comes back, he fights Tony,” Lee said on a recent episode of MMA Junkie Radio. “He don’t want to, but I feel like at some point they’re going to force him to. Either that, or something crazy is going to happen there. But at least I think everything that I’ve seen and all the little whispers that I’ve heard, he comes back, he fights Tony.”

Russell Ess - December 20, 2017

November 12, 2016, was the last time we saw Conor McGregor fight in the Octagon. McGregor became the UFC lightweight champion that night, capturing the belt from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 and also became the first fighter in history to hold two UFC weight division’s titles simultaneously. Over a year has passed since and McGregor has only competed once and it was outside of the Octagon in a highly lucrative boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, which was the second highest pay-per-view event of all time.

Justin Golightly - December 16, 2017

When Eddie Alvarez knocked out Justin Gaethje with a brutal knee after their UFC 218 war, in his mind, he won the unofficial Most Violent UFC title. It was something that he created due to limbo at lightweight and the nature of the fight he had before him. However, there is a real belt in the division, or at least an interim, held by Tony Ferguson. The interim lightweight champ Ferguson wasn’t impressed, by the fight are the ‘title’ Alvarez boasts about. He took to Twitter to tell Alvarez what he thought and didn’t hold back one bit. …Eddie Alvarez was quick to respond though. I would rip your skinny body apart if I cared to fight you , but I don’t care to fight You soo … Merry Christmas “Champ” 😂😂😂