"He have to spend this money" - When Khabib Nurmagomedov had reasons for picking Tony Ferguson as next opponent over a prime Conor McGregor

UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov shared an intense rivalry with former double champ Conor McGregor and called him out on various occasions before finally facing him at UFC 229.

However, there was one instance when Nurmagomedov chose to call out then-interim champion Tony Ferguson instead of 'The Notorious'. After his UFC 219 fight against Edson Barboza, Nurmagomedov spoke about his next fight and called out Ferguson citing that McGregor would be too busy spending his pay check from the Floyd Mayweather fight.

“I think about only me. Next fight [is] next fight. If UFC tell me, 'Hey, what [do] you want?', I’m gonna say Tony Ferguson. 'Cause he [has got] 10 [fight] win streak in lightweight, I am 25 [fight] win streak, I am undefeated all my career. Tony Ferguson. But about Conor, I don’t think because he have a lot of money now, he have to spend this money. After, when money is finish, I think he gonna come back. And I want to say thank you to my all team, Eagles MMA. Alhamdulillah, thank you so much.”

Conor McGregor had just completed his boxing crossover against Mayweather and although he lost his professional boxing debut, he walked away with a massive fight purse.

Check out Nurmagomedov's complete octagon interview below on YouTube (2:20):

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Tony Ferguson opens up about moving on from the elusive Khabib Nurmagomedov fight

At the time of his UFC 219 interview, Khabib Nurmagomedov had already been scheduled to face Tony Ferguson thrice and each time the fight was canceled due to an injury or illness to either fighter.

Incidentally, Ferguson would also fight next on the same card that Nurmagomedov finally took on McGregor – UFC 229.

Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov's ill-fated matchup was booked a total of five times and did not materialize even once, much to the dismay of fans and the fighters.

Ferguson spoke about it in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and expressed his sadness over Nurmagomedov's retirement:

"I know when Khabib left, a little part of me left with that. It kind of sucked a little bit because we’ve always had that, I don’t want to say negative energy, but that hype that was built around that. Then when that disappeared and the pandemic hit and the f***king team left and then just a whole bunch there was nothing else left for me kind of. "

Check out his comments below: