UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson has labelled Khabib Nurmagomedov's performance against Dustin Poirier on Saturday night as "lazy" and "one-dimensional."
The Russian champion defended his crown for a second time at UFC 242 with a dominant victory against "The Diamond" in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
But a far from impressed Ferguson believes there are "holes" in Nurmagomedov's game.
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When asked about Nurmagomeov's performance against Poirier at UFC 242, he played down the entertainment value of the bout.
"Lazy. One-dimensional," Ferguson told Ariel Helwani's MMA Show.
"Nothing against him, both guys did an awesome fight week. I know there was a lot of nerves and stuff. Khabib showed up, he obviously won, put the pressure on Dustin and Dustin didn't have an answer for it.
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"Props to Khabib for winning but like I said, it's lazy. We've prepared for this guy many times. He's a good fighter but I know how to break that goat."
Ferguson, who is currently on a 12-fight win streak that includes victories over Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone, went on to explain why he labelled Khabib's performance in such a way.
"Well, being my type of fighter, I throw a lot of barrage of punches, kicks, knees and elbows," he said.
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"So when I see someone pushing against the cage and not really doing too much, being active and just kind of putting themselves as a wet blanket. In jiu-jitsu, we use that saying. He's a wet blanket, just sitting there. It's a lot of pressure.
"It's interesting how Khabib fights but to me, it's just boring, it's lazy.
"With him, I see a lot of holes in his game. But he's got a high level team with him and they know what they're dealing with so they're going to go to the drawing board and try to fix those holes.
"I think Dustin was in awe during fight week. Probably just a culture shock. It was probably a lot for both fighters. With that being said, in the next fight you're probably going to have one of the best Khabib's you've ever seen. So they're going to fix a lot of holes in his game."
Ferguson will finally get his shot at a UFC title as long as he's "ready", according to Dana White.
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The UFC president has confirmed Ferguson is next in line if he accepts their proposal to face the winner of UFC 242's main-event.
"Listen, again, if Tony Ferguson's ready," White said when asked if he will get the next lightweight title shot. "Tony Ferguson's been offered opportunities before that he hasn't taken. If Tony's ready then yeah [he's next]."
Ferguson has a history with UFC title shots. He beat Kevin Lee back at UFC 216 to win the interim-title but was stripped of the belt after sustaining an injury.
He then turned down a fight with Max Holloway for the interim-UFC lightweight title last April.
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Ferguson has been matched up with Nurmagomedov five times, but each meeting has fell through.
It appeared he was no longer interested in taking on the undefeated Russian when he was rooting for Poirier before Saturday's bout but circumstances have obviously changed since.
"Hopefully Dustin [Poirier] gets a piece of him, throws him on his back, and puts him away, so we can have a good ole' f*****g American battle, battle royale," he said.ahead of last weekend's fight.
"Like I said, if push comes to shove me and Khabib, we'll go out there and we'll handle this s**t, in December. So either Dustin or Khabib, title shot next December, Las Vegas, let's make it happen UFC brass.
"Hey man, he's American, he's cool, he's out of [American] Top Team, one of the gyms I wanted to go and train at, I haven't had the opportunity to. I fought a couple of people out of there. Solid team man. They got a good bunch of people there man. Champions."
Do you agree with Tony Ferguson on this one? Who would win in a fight between Ferguson and Khabib?
Let us know in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: UFC/PATopics: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier, UFC 242, MMA News, Abu Dhabi, Tony Ferguson, UFC, MMA
