Tony Ferguson predicts Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight again: “I’ll be f**king ready”

Top UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson has some doubts about the permanence of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s recent retirement announcement.

Nurmagomedov, the undisputed lightweight champion, announced his retirement after he submitted Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC 254 last weekend.

Ferguson, who was scheduled to fight Nurmagomedov a whopping five times to no avail, says he predicted the champion’s retirement announcement. He’s also predicting that retirement won’t last.

He weighed in on the situation on Submission Radio.

“I completely called it out,” Ferguson said. “I called it out on my post. You guys can see that. I called he was gonna retire. I mean, Ali Abdelaziz (Khabib’s manager) did his job. He kept his client safe, kept him away from very dangerous opponents. I mean, that’s what an agent and a manger is supposed to do. Although, he is a piece of sh*t, but I have to say, he did the smart thing. I mean, he avoided me at all f*cking costs. I mean, the Russians, they avoided me at all fucking costs. That’s f*cking awesome. So, you know what, I did my job. They ran. F*ckin’ Dagestani ran with his tail between his legs. But you know what, he’s off in the sunset. I have to give him props. Go handle your family business, and I’ll see you when you get here. Back. Because you’re gonna miss it like Conor (McGregor). So, you know what, I’m calling it out again, he’s going to be back. So, I’ll be f*cking ready.”

While Ferguson believes Nurmagomedov will fight again, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon.

If Nurmagomedov vacates the title, which seems like a certainty if he sticks to his retirement—even temporarily—Ferguson says he’d like to fight Dustin Poirier for the vacant throne.

“I kind of called out everybody on one post, and Dustin already f*ckin’ said ‘Let’s do it’. So, he wants to fight for the f*ckin’ title for me, so he’s already the kind of dude to skip sh*t and kind of whatever he’s gotta do,” Ferguson said. “So, the way I called it was, you gotta have myself and you gotta have Dustin Poirier fight for the title.

“I mean, Gaethje f*cking lost,” Ferguson added. “I’ve been sitting here and I’ve been doing my sh*t and making sure I’m keeping cool, calm and collected. Being real, give me the fucking title shot. Give me my chance. You guys want to see me fight, I really want to fight. I have a belt, I have a fight-of-the-year award, I have the Ultimate Fighter trophy, I got a couple of championship rings, I got medals, I got a bunch of awards and all American certificates, and certificates of merit for helping people out.”

Are you with Tony Ferguson on this? Will Khabib Nurmagomedov end up fighting again?