Tony Ferguson believes that he and Conor McGregor is the best fight available when the Irishman returns to the UFC following his boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Ferguson, who will square off against Kevin Lee at UFC 206’s interim-lightweight title headliner, firmly believes that he will be next in line for a shot at the 155-pound champion McGregor upon his return to MMA:
“As far as what Conor is at, if he does ‘MayMac’ and he wins or loses it doesn’t matter, he’s going to have to defend his belt against the person that has the interim title,” Ferguson said recently on ESPN’s Five Rounds Podcast. “It’s defend or vacate. I mean that’s what makes sense to me because that’s the way the rules have always went. You have to fight the one who has the title, to unify the titles. If I’m going to have an interim title, I want to fight Conor.”
While many have speculated that McGregor will instead seek a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz, Ferguson believes that the only way for McGregor to go down this road would be to vacate his title:
“If he wants the trilogy with Nate he has to drop the belt. He can’t hold onto the belt and do all of that other stuff. He did it for a whole entire year, you had your kid, that’s great, now let’s fight. If he wants to fight Nate a third time, fans are going to react a certain way. I’ll squash f**king Nate, we all know the best fight that’s out there right now is going to be me and Conor McGregor.”
“I’ve moved on from calling him ‘McNuggets’ because his game has gotten a little bit better. His boxing has gotten better. When he throws punches he has learned to block his face a little bit better. He’s got his sh*t together as far as his hands. I see myself as one of the most valuable opponents to Conor McGregor. I’m not going to change, I’m not going to start talking sh*t, I’m not going to try to be anybody that I’m not. I’ve been the same person even since before the Ultimate Fighter.”
“I work hard and I let my fists do the talking.”
