Tony Ferguson: ‘F—k Khabib;’ UFC 249 Headliner is ‘For the Real Belt’

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At the moment, Tony Ferguson isn’t interested in thinking about a future showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

During a conference call to promote UFC 249, Ferguson made that point perfectly clear when he was asked about the possibility of rescheduling a bout with the reigning lightweight champion for a sixth time.

“I’m not going to answer that f—ing question,” Ferguson said. “We’re worrying about UFC 249. The fight’s with Justin Gaethje.”

Ferguson and Gaethje will lock horns for the interim championship in the UFC 249 headliner on Saturday at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Ferguson and Nurmagomedov were initially slated to meet at the event when it was scheduled for April 18, but the Dagestani ended up stranded in Russia due to restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

While Nurmagomeodv has established himself as one of the top pound-for-pound talents in the sport, his long-anticipated showdown with Ferguson has seemed cursed. The first four times the fight was booked, injuries and other issues forced the bout to be canceled. Everything seemed to be full speed ahead for their April 18 clash in Brooklyn, but that was before the COVID-19 outbreak changed everything.

With Nurmagomedov stuck in Russia, it would seem that the Ferguson-Gaethje winner would be in line to face “The Eagle” down the road. However, UFC president Dana White has not disguised his interest in potentially booking a Nurmagomedov-Conor McGregor rematch; their first meeting at UFC 229 was the highest selling pay-per-view in promotion history.

Either way, Ferguson appears to be fed up with talking about an opponent he has yet to face. Having already captured interim gold once only to have it stripped, “El Cucuy” is declaring himself the true UFC lightweight champion.

“F—k Khabib. I’m going to be real,” Ferguson said. “I want to say f—k Khabib. I’m defending my belt for the third time. This is for the real belt. This is not for an interim title. This is for the real championship s—t. It’s champ s—t only, buddy.

“That dude’s a b—h. I’m going to be real. Him and McNuggets. They both need to f—ing retire. The only two real men out there are going to be me and Justin Gaethje. American motherf—ers.”