Tony Ferguson Hopes Poirier Wins at UFC 242 to Set Up 'American Battle Royale'

Former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson hopes Dustin Poirier can get the job done over the champion Khabib Nurmagomedov on Saturday at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi to set up an all-American title fight in the 155-pound division at the end of the year.

Ferguson, who won the interim lightweight title before it was stripped from him last year due to an injury he suffered while undertaking promotional work for the UFC, was a recent guest on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show and said while he was open to fighting either man from this weekend’s main-event, his preference would be “The Diamond” so the pair could face off in “a good ole’ f*****g American battle, battle royale” later in the year (transcription via BJPenn.com):

“Hopefully Dustin [Poirier] gets a piece of him, throws him on his back, and puts him away, so we can have a good ole’ f*****g American battle, battle royale,” Tony Ferguson said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “Like I said, if push comes to shove me and Khabib, we’ll go out there and we’ll handle this s**t, in December. So either Dustin or Khabib, title shot next December, Las Vegas, let’s make it happen UFC brass.”

Ferguson also had praise for Poirier’s longtime gym, American Top Team:

“Hey man, he’s American, he’s cool, he’s out of [American] Top Team, one of the gyms I wanted to go and train at, I haven’t had the opportunity to. I fought a couple of people out of there. Solid team man. They got a good bunch of people there man. Champions.”