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Khabib Nurmagomedov And Tony Ferguson's Face Off Got Heated

Khabib Nurmagomedov And Tony Ferguson's Face Off Got Heated

The two UFC stars will meet at UFC 249 for the lightweight title and had their first meeting on Friday night, with things getting tasty.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson got the latest glimpse of each other ahead of their UFC 249 meeting next month, and it got heated at the face off.

If Khabib was hoping for a less confrontational rivalry, following his fierce back and forth with Conor McGregor in 2018, then he isn't going to find it in Ferguson.

The pair were at the press conference for UFC 249, ahead of this weekend's UFC 248, and faced off at the end with Ferguson bringing his former interim heavyweight belt to pose with.

El Cucuy used it to challenge Khabib but the Russian wasn't having any of it, kicking the old belt as he seemed to get wound up by the whole affair.

The pair have been due to face each other four times in the past and on each occasion one or the other has had to pull out due to injury or illness.

However there has been no loved lost over those attempts to get it on and during the press conference there was already clear animosity.

The champ called the challenger 'f*cking fat' and claimed he was the size of former heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.

Ferguson, who had to give up his interim belt in 2017 because of an injury, claimed he was already in his opponents head, over a month out from the fight.

In Las Vegas on Friday he asked the audience to raise their hands if they agreed with a majority of his home fans lifting their hands up.

Nurmagomedov was involved in a highly personal and combustive rivalry with McGregor during 2018, which led to the Eagle being suspended for six months following his victory over the Irishman.

The 31-year-old returned to action in September 2019 to beat then interim champion Dustin Poirier, whilst Ferguson's last win, his 12th in a row, came against Donald Cerrone in June last year.

Can Ferguson's mind games help him be the first person to beat Khabib?

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Topics: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor Mcgregor, UFC News, MMA News, Yoel Romero, Tony Ferguson, Lightweight champion, UFC 248, UFC, MMA, UFC 249, Israel Adesanya