Tony Ferguson Would Love to Face Nate Diaz, Talks Possible Nurmagomedov Rematch

Tony Ferguson spoke with MMAjunkie about his next fight. Some highlights are below:

On if he’d be satisfied fighting for the belt against someone other than Conor McGregor: “It depends on where your heart is, where his heart is at. I want to fight somebody that wants to fight. I don’t want somebody that’s forced to fight. I want to fight a top contender. I’m one of the best fighters in the world as far as lightweight contention. I’ve put in my time; I’ve put in my numbers. If Conor wants to leave the belt and pursue some sort of victory in the boxing world, which I don’t think he is – the dude’s got a puncher’s chance. But (expletive), vacate the belt right now, drop it, leave it where it’s at, and (I’ll) fight for the title (at) International Fight Week against someone else. The only person I’d really like to go toe-to-toe with that probably needs some lesson taught to is Nate Diaz. I’d love to go toe-to-toe with him. For anybody else out there, they really don’t deserve a shot at fighting with me. Myself, the fans, everybody else would love to see that fight. Battle of California, baby. Let’s do this.”

On a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov: “I would love to have the fight, but putting up with the whole entire camp again, it puts a salty taste in my mouth. It’s like swimming in the ocean. You know it’s good for you, but it puts that taste in your mouth. It’s like the Khabib fight where I can correlate that, because it’s a fight that I want. I want this fight. The fans want this fight. I wouldn’t mind training again for it, but there would have to be some assurances.”