If you’ve been hoping and or even campaigning for Tony Ferguson to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov next, then you’ll be happy to read Dana White’s latest comments about the lightweight division.
Ever since Nurmagomedov defended his lightweight crown in October, by tapping out Conor McGregor, there’s been a ton of talk about who the champ would fight next. For a little while, a lot of folks believed the UFC would look at booking McGregor for an immediate rematch. But, Khabib has made it clear he doesn’t think the former champ deserves one, and he’s pointed to Ferguson and Dustin Poirier as more deserving challengers. Further, White had said previously that he thinks Nurmagomedov – Ferguson makes sense, and more recently, he told MMA Junkie this:
“Of course Tony deserves it,” White said. “He’s the No. 1 contender. He’s the guy. That’s the fight.”
So, this doesn’t mean of course that Khabib – Ferguson is next for sure, but it’s another push in that direction. Especially since White was also asked about the recent back-and-forth between Donald Cerrone and McGregor, whereby, they’ve relayed their down to scrap.
While talking about the possibility of that match-up, the UFC President said this (quote via MMA Junkie):
“Those two want to fight each other; they’ve both earned it,” White said. “‘Cowboy’s’ fought anybody we’ve ever put against him. We throw this young killer Hernandez at him, ‘Cowboy’s’ the underdog and he goes in and does it the way he did it, then Conor’s fought everybody.”
“If these two want to fight, I’m down.”
We shall see what happens from here. White also said that he’s targeting summer for McGregor’s next bout, so, maybe they’re thinking about Cerrone – McGregor for International Fight Week in July?