The UFC‘s lightweight boogeyman is wanting a fight. “El Cucuy” Tony Ferguson (25-4) just appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show to talk about what’s next for him inside the octagon. Ferguson is coming off of an interim title loss to Justin Gaethje back at UFC 249.
Tony Ferguson was originally planning on fighting Dustin Poirier (26-6, 1 NC) later this month at UFC 254. That was the fight that the promotion was trying to book. Poirier and Ferguson are both ranked in the top three of the lightweight division.
However, the UFC couldn’t come to financial terms with Poirier. The fight fell apart, and Ferguson was left without an opponent. The UFC tried to pivot to booking Ferguson against Michael Chandler, but Ferguson was not interested in being at “Gate keeper.”
Now, the former interim UFC lightweight champion is left without an opponent. In his interview with Helwani, Ferguson talked about the fact that he’s still at the championship level. He wants to be treated that way. El Cucuy has one guy in mind for his next UFC contest.
“Khabib, let’s go. The fans want to see it, I’m not trying to hype anything. It’s competition. Nothing against him,” Ferguson told Helwani. Of course, Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0) is scheduled to defend his lightweight title later this month at UFC 254 against Gaethje.
What does the UFC do?
UFC 254 needs to happen before the promotion plans on anything. The UFC is trying to book Dustin Poirier – Conor McGregor, but Ferguson doesn’t believe that fight will happen because McGregor is, “All fluff.”
Later this month, we will crown an undisputed UFC lightweight champion. Ferguson has his eyes focused on the winner of that fight. I believe a fight with Michael Chandler (21-5) would have been perfect, but Ferguson isn’t interested in someone who hasn’t competed inside the octagon.
If Nurmagomedov is able to defeat Justin Gaethje later this month, the promotion could try again at booking Ferguson with Khabib. This would be the sixth time that the UFC would have tried to put that fight together.
Considering the timeline, I would like to see Ferguson get back into the octagon before facing the winner of Khabib – Gaethje. He’s coming off of a tough loss to Gaethje, and I would just like to see him get his feet wet in the first. Time will tell what the promotion decides to do with El Cucuy.