Tony Ferguson Claims Conor McGregor Won’t Defend Lightweight Strap

Tony Ferguson will be taking on Khabib Nuramgomedov this March to crown the UFC Interim Lightweight Champion. Ferguson feels that current lightweight champion Conor McGregor may never defend the gold.

“I have nine fights in a row win streak. Khabib has eight fights in a row. This is the first time you guys are ever gonna see this inside the octagon. This is for an interim title. It should be for the real shit. Am I a little pissed about it? Yeah. Is Conor gonna defend his belt, that little bitch? Probably not. He’s gonna run. Go ahead. Go run. Go try to box. You’ll get your ass kicked too. And when you’re ready to come back, they’re gonna strip your belt and at 155, I’m gonna be holding it and you’re gonna be like, ‘Oh I want my belt back’ and this and that. I don’t give a shit. The fight, the real fight, is between Conor? No. Conor, sorry buddy. The fight’s between Khabib and Ferguson,” Ferguson said to ESPN.

Ferguson and Nurmagomedov’s fight took a while to put together, but Ferguson believes the contract situation is behind him now.

“It’s business I understand that. But I out-performed my contract and we had a talk, management came to an agreement and now we’re fighting. I don’t like to talk too much business. That’s for the management and that kind of person. I like to do my business inside the octagon. I feel like you guys are pretty familiar with that,” said Ferguson.

UFC 209 takes place on Saturday, March 4 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson headlining.