Tony Ferguson Says He’ll be “Ready” if And When Khabib Returns…

Chances are most folks have closed the book on a fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov ever fighting. After all, the latter is now retired.

But, according to ‘El Cucuy’, the legendary fighter will get the itch to fight again, and he’ll be waiting when he does.

Ferguson says Khabib “ran” from him

The MMA world is still buzzing from Nurmagomedov’s jaw-dropping win at UFC 254 last weekend, which saw him choke out Justin Gaethje. The even bigger news, however, was that Khabib announced he’s retiring at 29-0.

Well, if you’re a big fan you know that the UFC booked Ferguson and Khabib to fight five different times. Each time, however, injuries or some kind of issue punted the bout.

Most recently, it was the COVID-19 pandemic, which stranded Khabib in Russia and as a result, Ferguson faced Gaethje in May. ‘El Cucu’ lost the bout, however, setting up this past weekend’s Khabib – Gaethje fight.

Well, following UFC 254, Ferguson appeared on Submission Radio, and he didn’t hold back while discussing Khabib’s retirement (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“I completely called it out,” Ferguson said. “I called it out on my post. You guys can see that.

I called he was going to retire. I mean, (manager) Ali Abdelaziz did his job. He kept his client safe – kept him away from very dangerous opponents.

I mean, that’s what an agent and a manger is supposed to do – although, he is a piece of (expletive).

But I have to say, he did the smart thing. I mean, he avoided me at all (expletive) costs. I mean, the Russians, they avoided me at all (expletive) costs. That’s (expletive) awesome.

“So, you know what? I did my job. They ran. (Expletive) Dagestani ran with his tail between his legs.

But you know what? He’s off in the sunset. I have to give him props. Go handle your family business, and I’ll see you when you get here.

Back, because you’re going to miss it like Conor (McGregor). So you know what? I’m calling it out again: He’s going to be back, so I’ll be (expletive) ready.”

Could Khabib come back?

So, there’s a couple of things to look at there. First, Khabib and his supporters would likely point out that the star signed up to fight Ferguson multiple times, while countering the argument he ran from Tony.

Further, if Ferguson hadn’t lost to Gaethje, we may have finally seen these two fight at UFC 254.

Given what Khabib’s gone through this past year with the passing of his father, and the comments he made about retiring, it certainly looks like this is it.

But…if Ferguson does proceed to win the lightweight title, you just never know. That could be a match-up that interests Khabib, since they never fought, and for some time he repeatedly argued the two needed to fight.