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Tony Ferguson Has Named The Only Fighter He Wants To Replace Khabib Nurmagomedov

Tony Ferguson Has Named The Only Fighter He Wants To Replace Khabib Nurmagomedov

The Russian backed out their UFC 249 main event on Wednesday night as he is grounded in Russia, but the show will still go on.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Tony Ferguson doesn't want to fight potential Khabib Nurmagomedov replacement Justin Gaethje, and the 36-year-old only has eyes for one opponent.

For the fifth time in just a few years, Ferguson and Khabib have been scheduled to fight each other, only for one or the other to pull out of the fight, usually with just days to go until it was meant to happen.

On Wednesday, Khabib confirmed he wouldn't be able to leave Russia amidst the world pandemic of Covid-19.

There are rumours that Gaethje could be the replacement to fight Ferguson but El Cucuy isn't having it - and only has eyes for Conor McGregor.

"Nobody deserves that ass-whooping besides two people, 'McNuggets' and 'Team Tiramisu' - that's Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov," he told Ariel Helwani on ESPN.

"The dude's [Gaethje] got a 4 and 2 record [in the UFC]. When all these things happened, when they stripped me of my belt - remember when I said it's like a round-robin tournament?

"I had to fight everybody. I fought everybody that was in the top five. I knocked them all out or finished them in great fashion, and here we go, we're back in the same spot. It's like the UFC is trying to play keep away with me."

UFC 249 is due to take place on April 18th, just over two weeks away, and UFC boss Dana White has refused to cancel the event, despite all other major live sporting events being cancelled or postponed.

The promotion are yet to confirm a location for the event, that will be behind closed doors, and the ever changing landscape is part of what led to Khabib pulling out.

The lightweight champion claimed he travelled to Abu Dhabi after being told that's where the fight would take place. When the United Arab Emirates started to close its borders because of the virus the undefeated fighter decided to head home to Russia.

Ferguson, who has previously been the interim champ and called for Khabib to have his title stripped, isn't impressed that the location hasn't been confirmed yet, adding, "We've had how many different locations ... we've been told to wait that same day - we're on pins and needles here after practice. I wanna go home and take my ice baths but I can't because we're waiting to see if this damn fight happens either way."

On Thursday McGregor responded to Ferguson calling him out and claimed that the two fighters who were meant to face each other had been playing a 'game of chicken.'

Who do you want to see Ferguson fight? Let us know in the comments.

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