Khabib Nurmagamedov v Tony Ferguson is off for the fifth time. Unless the Russian government flies the UFC lightweight champion out of the country on a private jet, then he looks trapped there for the future. The most cursed fight in MMA remains exactly that.
Fans have mixed feelings about Khabib’s decision to return to Dagestan. Some believe that he’s perfectly justified to want to be with his family during these troubling times. Others think he’s a coward and should have be stripped of his title for running away.
Conor McGregor spoke out about the Russian’s action and now Khabib has responded. Long story short, he’s not amused. Check it out below.
The fact of this matter is, both Tony and Khabib where engaged in a game of chicken here towards the fight bell. With Khabib chickening out first. Making it 3-2 in pullouts in Tony’s favour. Khab scurried out of the U.S to home, and amid the crisis. Very high risk.
Congrats Tony.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 2, 2020
High Risk
McGregor reignited their beef by targeting the three times Khabib pulled out of the fight. In short, he said that Ferguson has the moral high ground. He’s technically right as well, even if it’s not Khabib’s fault. To be fair the UFC is creating drama by insisting that it will have an event. McGregor wrote:
“The fact of the matter is, both Tony and Khabib where engaged in a game of chicken here towards the fight bell. With Khabib chickening out first. Making it 3-2 in pullouts in Tony’s favour. Khab scurried out of the US to home, and amid the crisis. Very high risk. Congrats Tony.”
Disgust
Needless to say, Khabib is not impressed with McGregor’s opinion. If you want to make an MMA fighter angry, insinuate that they’re afraid. It works 100% of the time. The lightweight champion spoke to ESPN and unleashed his emotions:
“When I smash him last time, he said ‘my foot [is to] blame’ or something like this, ‘it was not my good shape.’ How he right now in good shape? How? How we can talk about shape when I smash his face, when he tap, he said ‘it was my bad shape, I was without shape’ now we talk about ‘I am in good shape, I can come in.’
“A couple days ago he send message ‘hey people please take care of family, be safe, stay home, government ask us stay home.’ A couple days ago, now he talk about ‘I am good shape..blah blah blah, someone have to fight, someone have to fly.’ For me this is fake, I was always real, maybe someone like, maybe someone don’t like, this is not my job but I was always real. But this guy is fake, what are you talking about, about his shape? He go to some island and sit home all day like scared about this Coronavirus but he don’t talk about this.
April 18 Is Getting Close @TeamKhabib & You’re Hiding In Russia. Travel Bans Will Not Prevent Me From Whoopin’ That Ass. Don’t Use It As An Excuse To Back Out. You Have Been Sent Many Locations, Send Us 1. Still My Bitch #DefendorVacate MF ⚾️ -CSO- 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 #ufc249 @ufc @danawhite pic.twitter.com/TVQH4mnG2e
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) March 30, 2020
Strip Him
Tony Ferguson has also spoken to ESPN. He made it clear that he believes that Khabib is too afraid to fight him. ‘El Cucuy’ is ready and waiting for the Russian but doesn’t expect the fight to happen now. While he’s willing to fight Justin Gaethje, he wants certain guarantees from the UFC first. Ferguson said:
“He knew that he wasn’t cutting weight very good. He said it already that he was having a hard time cutting weight, focusing and doing everything else like that. To me right there, he’s running away. He ran away, he obviously knew what he could do to help save this card. He didn’t want to take any of those chances. Everybody’s taking risks. He bailed out. It’s pretty hard to explain but he bailed out.”
One thing I know is, I’m going to stay consistent with my training, and it doesn’t matter what location,” he added. “You could drop me off on Khabib’s doorstep, and that dude still will not fight. It’s defend or vacate. That dude needs to be stripped.”