Tony Ferguson was supposed to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the vacant UFC Interim Lightweight Title at UFC 209.
Khabib had issues with his weight cut and he was forced to pull out of the fight, something that Ferguson now feels was disrespectful on Nurmagomedov’s behalf.
“It was very disrespectful and very unprofessional what his camp did, especially after all that was said leading up to the fight,” Ferguson said on The MMA Hour.
Michael Johnson did want to replace Nurmagomedov on short notice and Ferguson promptly turned down the bout. Ferguson still wants to fight Nurmagomedov down the line, but the weight cutting issue for Khabib could put a halt on any future plans.
“I would love to fight Khabib, but there’s no guarantee he’s going to show up and make the weight.” Ferguson said. “I found out, too, the he was eating tiramisu, a couple weeks ago on Embedded. I’m like, what is this guy doing? Really? It’s plain disrespectful, it unprofessional. My next fight needs to be a title fight. I’ve earned every single right of the way. Somebody that’s guaranteed to show up. I’ve done all my homework, I’ve done, made my ends me for this fight. But if we’re talking Khabib, there’s got to be some sort of guarantee or insurance for this, man. It’s a crazy bug that I can’t squash and its a tough pill to swallow right now.”
A lightweight division fight between Lando Vanatta and David Teymur wound up replacing that fight as the UFC 209 co-main event.
