Tony Ferguson, Ali Abdelaziz go for the throat in post-UFC 256 war of words

UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson and MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz did not hold back in their latest verbal skirmish on social media.

Ferguson returned to the cage in the co-main event of UFC 256 last weekend, where he was out-grappled to a decision loss against Charles Oliveira. After the fight concluded, Abdelaziz, who manages lightweight stars like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje, decided to kick Ferguson while he was down.

Black belt VS White belt

— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) December 13, 2020

“Black belt VS White belt.”

It did not take Ferguson long to respond to this dig from Abdelaziz, and he did not hold back when he did.

I Said The Same Thing About You & @TeamKhabib at #UFC209 💯 Ali W/ A Rat Color Belt To Match His Persona. Back Was Glued To Mat Bish’ Is High Level Defense Snitch, Take Notes 🖕🤓 -CSO- 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 # 1stLineOfDefense pic.twitter.com/cosFrvdEme

— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) December 15, 2020

“I Said The Same Thing About You & @TeamKhabib at #UFC209. Ali W/ A Rat Color Belt To Match His Persona. Back Was Glued To Mat Bish’ Is High Level Defense Snitch, Take Notes.”

Abdelaziz then fired back at Ferguson, calling the former interim lightweight champion “irrelevant” after his recent losses to Oliveira and Gaethje.

You are a relevant now you can say whatever you want nobody cares I wish you good retirement 😉 https://t.co/dNP49UlKM1

— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) December 15, 2020

“You are a relevant now you can say whatever you want nobody cares I wish you good retirement”

For many years, Tony Ferguson was seen as the toughest opponent for the unbeaten UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, Abdelaziz’s star client. In fact, the promotion attempted to book a fight between the pair a whopping five times, but failed on each occasion due to injuries, botched weight cuts, pandemics, and more. And with Ferguson on a losing-streak and Nurmagomedov ostensibly retired, it seems we’ll never see the two lightweight legends meet in the cage.