Tony Ferguson will be facing Khabib Nurmagomedov this Saturday Night at UFC 209 and the winner will be crowned the UFC Interim Lightweight Champion. Whether he walks away with or without the gold, Ferguson may move up a weight class in the future to face Tyron Woodley.
“I heard he (UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley) fired back, but you know what? He better watch out because I won The Ultimate Fighter at 170,” Ferguson said at the UFC 209 open workouts.
Ferguson won the UFC Ultimate Fighter 13 at welterweight, defeating Ramsey Nijem in the finals. While he and Woodley have had a war of words recently, Ferguson has a lot of respect for title challenger Stephen Thompson.
“You’ve got a good guy in Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson that’s at 170. So you know what? The torch needs to be held by somebody that’s great,” Ferguson said. “Because champions are made in the dark, baby. We don’t need the lights and the spotlight. That stuff is for everybody else, man. But the people who are holding onto the torches — you’ve got Max Holloway at 145. I’m like, that’s cool, man. That’s in good hands right now. I don’t need to go to that weight class. One-seventy, we’re going to have ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson beat the f*ck out of T-Woodley. You know what, I’ll say that again; I hope they have a good fight, and I hope ‘Wonderboy’ wins. So that’s at 170. If that torch is held by ‘Wonderboy,’ that’s cool, I don’t have to go to 170. Because where I’m from, we got weight classes, baby, and we respect that. So I will gladly hold the torch at 155 for a long time.”
UFC 209 takes place on Saturday, March 4 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Tyron Woodley and Stepehn Thompson headlining. Fightful will be providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
