Tony Ferguson hopes to battle Khabib Nurmagomedov in the fall

Originally, Tony Ferguson was expected to battle Khabib Nurmagomedov for the interim lightweight title at UFC 209. When Nurmagomedov was hospitalized after a tough weight cut, however, the fighters were deprived of the chance to settle their score.

While Nurmagomedov’s weight troubles have only helped to solidify Ferguson’s claim to the lightweight number-one-contender spot, Ferguson still plans to fight his rival in the near future.

In a recent interview with FloCombat.com, Ferguson explained that he’d like to fight Nurmagomedov in the late summer or early fall.

“I’m not going to rob Khabib of an ass whooping. I will give him that ass whooping,” Ferguson said. “Trust me, he does deserve that beat down by my hands. I’ve made so many more fans by his lame ass attempt to go missing in action. If that dude would have showed up and missed weight, I would have won that belt. That sh*t would have been mine automatically. No reason, no wonder his ass didn’t show up.”

“Hopefully he has his [expletive] in order now and not the grand opening of his gym the same time around the fight. What I’m trying to say is if he’s ready, I’ll be ready and we’ll be ready in September/October and we’ll make that sh*t happen.”

Ferguson then explained that, while he still hopes to battle Nurmagomedov, he does not think the Dagestani star shares this feeling.

“If you want me to fight Khabib, there need to be some assurances cause I have a better chance of waiting for social security than waiting for this dude to show up on weight,” Ferguson said. “Straight up. This kid. He’s been going through Ramadan. I’m giving him one more day and I’m going to unleash the beast on this kid because I don’t think he has the heart to do it. I don’t think he has the will to win.

“Honestly, I don’t think he wanted to show up to that fight [at UFC 209] because his pops wasn’t there. He needed his daddy in his corner. So I’m not sure.”

Do you think Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will ever fight? If so, who wins?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/3/2017.