If there is anyone still left out there who needs a reason to get excited for the Ferguson and Nurmagomedov bout at UFC 209, this should do the trick
Both men tore into each other with such ferocity that UFC public relations were forced to cut them off. The media call was completely hijacked by both men’s genuine dislike for each other.
Nurmagomedov’s comments that he would “break” Ferguson preceded a statement implying that Ferguson will have trouble when he faces a wrestler of his calibre next month. Ferguson’s response? To state that “The Eagle” had actually lost his debut fight against Gleison Tibau at UFC 148:
“Your first fight, you lost to him – I beat him in the first round.” said Ferguson. “You ain’t breaking sh*t. You keep talking.”
Nurmagomedov’s task of responding was made easier by the fact that Ferguson had officially lost a fight in the UFC, unlike himself. Back 2012, the year of Nurmagomedov’s debut fight, Ferguson lost a fight to the man Khabib stopped at UFC 205, Michael Johnson:
“You said Michael Johnson was going to kill me.” said Nurmagomedov. “What happened? I finished him. I could have finished him in the first round. I could have finished him in the second round.
“You have seven knockdowns.”
Ouch. “El Cucuy” was far from done, however, and had another message for Khabib:
“If you try to take me down, you’re going to find out how sharp my elbows are.”
Ferguson also implied that Nurmagomedov was unfit, and questioned if he would even make weight for the fight on March 4 in Las Vegas, NV:
“You’re fat, dude,” Ferguson said. “You’ll never make weight, and your conditioning sucks.”
Both men were scheduled to meet each other on two occasions in the past, with one forced to pull out due to injury at one instance each. While they pointed the finger at each other over who was ultimately responsible, Nurmagomedov also accused Ferguson of “running”:
“There’s nobody running from this fight,” said Ferguson. “Dude, you’re a punk. You’re a (expletive) bully, just like everybody else at AKA. Nobody’s running but Conor [McGregor].”
While these were the highlights from both fighters’ exchanges, you can listen to the full call above.
